snail

Related to snail: Land snail

at a snail's gallop

Very slowly. Snails are known for moving very slowly. My research is moving at a snail's gallop—every experiment I've tried so far has failed. We'll never get there on time with you driving at a snail's gallop!
See also: gallop

at a snail's pace

Very slowly (as a snail is known to move very slowly). My research is moving at a snail's pace—every experiment I've tried so far has failed. We'll never get there on time with you driving at a snail's pace!
See also: pace

snail mail

Paper mail sent through the postal service (as opposed to email). Snails are thought of as very slow. A: "Did we get any exciting snail mail today?" B: "Nah, just some bills." Wait, you sent the invitations by snail mail? Why didn't you just do e-vites?
See also: mail, snail

snail's pace

A very slow, arduous pace or rate. My research is moving at a snail's pace—every experiment I've tried so far has failed. We're never going to recoup our development costs if the snail's pace of these sales doesn't pick up.
See also: pace
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

at a snail's pace

 and at a snail's gallop
very slowly. Things are moving along at a snail's pace here, but we'll finish on time—have no fear. Poor old Wally is creeping at a snail's gallop because his car has a flat tire.
See also: pace
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

snail mail

Ordinary postal service, as opposed to electronic communications. For example, He hasn't taken to his computer so he's still using snail mail. This slangy idiom, alluding to the alleged slowness of the snail, caught on at least partly for its rhyme. [1980s]
See also: mail, snail

snail's pace

A very slow pace, as in They're making progress with testing the new vaccine, but at a snail's pace. [c. 1400]
See also: pace
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

at a snail's pace

COMMON If something is moving or happening at a snail's pace, it is moving or happening very slowly. The vote counting continues at a snail's pace but already clear results are emerging. The economy grew at a snail's pace in the first three months of this year. She was driving at a snail's pace, looking in every house. Note: You can also use snail's pace before a noun. Observers hope that the meeting will speed up two years of snail's-pace progress. Note: You usually use this expression when you think that it would be better if it went more quickly.
See also: pace
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

at a snail's pace

extremely slowly.
See also: pace
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

at a ˈsnail’s pace

(informal) very slowly: My grandmother drove the car at a snail’s pace.
See also: pace

ˈsnail mail

(informal, humorous) used especially by people who use email on computers to describe the system of sending letters by ordinary mail: I’d love to hear from you, either by email or snail mail.
See also: mail, snail
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

at a snail’s pace

and at a snail’s gallop
mod. very slowly. Poor old Willy is creeping at a snail’s gallop because his car has a flat tire. The building project is coming along at a snail’s pace.
See also: pace

at a snail’s gallop

verb
See at a snail’s pace
See also: gallop

snail-mail

n. post office mail; regular mail as opposed to electronic mail. (Refers to the slowness of regular mail in comparison to electronic mail or faxes.) There are lots of color pictures in the article, so I will send you the original by snail-mail.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

at a snail's pace

Very slowly. The slowness of snails was pointed out about 200 b.c. by the Roman poet Plautus and the term “snail’s pace” in English goes back to about 1400. Relative to its size, however, a snail travels a considerable distance each day, using the undersurface of its muscular foot to propel itself.
See also: pace
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • at a snail’s gallop
  • at a snail's gallop
  • gallop
  • got to get moving
  • gotta
  • (I've) got to get moving
  • up to speed
  • moving
  • backward(s) and forward(s)
  • forwards
References in periodicals archive
Thousands of snails have been released into the wild after a breeding programme in Britain saved them from near extinction.
BERMUDA-ENVIRONMENT -Rescued snails released into the wild
Aaliya's Books, another participating restaurant, presented a snail plate that incorporated anchovies and was topped with caramelized onion.
Snails set pace as four chefs race to challenge tastes in mollusk plates
Snail has a lot of slimy substances known as snail slime which it drops along its path as it moves.
Why Snail Slime Works For Diabetes -Experts
pfeifferi snails (Figure, panel A); large numbers (>50), along with innumerable dead shells, were again found at site 9.
Biomphalaria pfeifferi Snails and Intestinal Schistosomiasis, Lake Malawi, Africa, 2017-2018
A team of researchers from a Cebu university was all too familiar with snails but the species it found in the town of Argao, just a little bigger than a pin head, still came as a surprise.
Discovery of rare snail in Argao shows forest alive
"We had the best season to date last year because of the warm summer and on the continent, around 70 snail farms closed in Spain during last year due to heat waves."
Irish snail farms worth shelling out for
This stops intruders, such as mice, from disturbing the snails. It also keep "wild" snails out.
Richard's tips for creating your own snail farm
Fiona Carmichael, a keeper at the safari park, said:"African land snails are hermaphrodites - which is a fancy way of saying that one snail is both male and female.
WIN; A family pass to Blair Drummond Safari Park
Although an array of methods have been recommended for controlling apple snail infestation, approaches that target water levels are the most common (Litsinger and Estaflo, 1993; Wada et al., 1999; Yusa and Wada, 1999; Cowie, 2002; Darby et al., 2003, 2008; Seuffrent and Martin, 2010).
Physiology of the Apple Snail Pomacea maculata: Aestivation and Overland Dispersal
For the light method, each snail was placed in a small plate containing water exposed to electric lightening of 100 watts bulb lowered to a height of 16 cm above it for 3 h.
Terrestrial Snail Fauna and Associated Helminth Parasites in a Tropical Semi-Urban Zone, Enugu State, Nigeria
They experimented with Sea Snails because they have impressive memory habits and large neurons which makes them easier to work with.
Scientists Transfer Memory Between Snails!
The story tells of a tiny snail who longs to see the world, so she hitches a lift on the tail of a humpback whale.
The Snail and the Whale makes for a great tale; GOING OUT
This experiment was conducted in Sep 2015 to better understand the risk of the giant African land snail spreading to other regions of Florida from Miami-Dade County.
Effect of temperature and egg laying depths on giant African land snail (Gastropoda: Achatinidae) viability
Liquid sample from each snail set-up was centrifuged at 2500 x g for 5 minutes using Clay Adams[TM]Dynac III.
Morphological Characterization of Emerging Cercariae among Lymnaeid Snails from Barangay Cawongan, Padre Garcia, Batangas, Philippines
This snail known as the giant African snail is a fast-growing invasive phytopolyphagous pest considered as the most ecologically damaging land snail and ranks second among the "100 Worst Alien Invasive Species" [1].
FIELD ASSESSMENT OF ABUNDANCE, HOST PLANT UTILIZATION AND BEHAVIOR OF THE INVASIVE PHYTOPOLYPHAGOUS GIANT AFRICAN SNAIL, ACHATINA FROM SELECTED SITES IN MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES