snail
part of speech
noun (a snail, snails)
meaning for a pupil
1) A snail is a small, slow animal with a soft, slimy body and a spiral shell on its back that lives on land or in water. tree →
2) Snail can describe something very slow («at a snail's pace»). tree →
sense in the lessons
In science snails are molluscs: they have one muscular foot, leave a trail of slime, have tentacles with eyes, and eat plants, so gardeners see them as pests. They hide in their shells when it is dry or dangerous. In maths puzzles a snail climbing a wall is a classic problem. Phrases: «at a snail's pace», «snail mail» (letters sent by post), «snail shell».
examples
- A snail left a silvery trail across the path. tree →
- The snail pulled its head into its shell. tree →
- Snails ate all our lettuce. tree →
- The traffic moved at a snail's pace. tree →
- Snails come out after rain. tree →
- A snail has its eyes on the tips of its tentacles. tree →
- Grandma still sends birthday cards by snail mail. tree →
- A snail climbs 3 metres a day and slips back 2 at night, so it gains 1 metre each full day. tree →
- "I take my time," said the snail. tree →
note
Countable: «a snail». A snail without a shell is a «slug». Wash your hands after touching snails. In the classic puzzle, the snail escapes on the last day before slipping back, so count carefully.
In the corpora
- A snail eats with a ribbon covered in thousands of tiny teeth that scrapes food like a file.
- A worm has no legs, and a snail or slug has one wide muscly foot instead of legs.
- An octopus is a soft relative of snails and clams, yet it is one of the cleverest animals in the sea.
- Cone snails shoot a harpoon-like tooth full of venom into fish, and pain medicines have been made from cone snail venom.
- A giant snail rasps through cucumber with a tongue of thousands of tiny teeth.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «snail» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.