Snail

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A spiral cam, or a flat piece of metal of spirally curved outline, used for giving motion to, or changing the position of, another part, as the hammer tail of a striking clock.

(2): ( n.) Any gastropod having a general resemblance to the true snails, including fresh-water and marine species. See Pond snail, under Pond, and Sea snail.

(3): ( n.) Hence, a drone; a slow-moving person or thing.

(4): ( n.) A tortoise; in ancient warfare, a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers; a testudo.

(5): ( n.) Any one of numerous species of terrestrial air-breathing gastropods belonging to the genus Helix and many allied genera of the family Helicidae. They are abundant in nearly all parts of the world except the arctic regions, and feed almost entirely on vegetation; a land snail.

(6): ( n.) The pod of the sanil clover.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Heb. shablul ( Psalm 58:8 ), the snail or slug proper. Tristram explains the allusions of this passage by a reference to the heat and drought by which the moisture of the snail is evaporated. "We find," he says, "in all parts of the Holy Land myriads of snail-shells in fissures still adhering by the calcareous exudation round their orifice to the surface of the rock, but the animal of which is utterly shrivelled and wasted, 'melted away.'"

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Snail'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/s/snail.html. 1897.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Snail.

1. The Hebrew word, shablul , occurs only in  Psalms 58:8. The rendering of the Authorized Version is probably correct. The term would denote either a Limax or a Helix , which are particularly noticeable for the slimy track, they leave behind them, by which they seem to waste themselves away. To this, or to the fact that many of them are shrivelled up among the rocks, in the long heat of the summer, the psalmist refers.

2. The Hebrew word, chomet , occurs only as the name of some unclean animal in  Leviticus 11:30. Perhaps some kind of lizard may be intended.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Chomet ( Leviticus 11:30). Rather "a lizard." Some think the Stellio Lacerta . The Chaldee means "to bow down"; the Muslims kill it, as though it mimicked them at prayers. The Shablul in  Psalms 58:8 is a "snail" or 'slug" ( Limax ), which delights in the damp night; but in the hot sunshine, as it crawls over a dry surface and moistens the way with its secretion, its moisture melts away.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

In  Leviticus 11:30 it is supposed that the word chomet refers to some kind of lizard: the R.V. has 'sand-lizard.' In  Psalm 58:8 the word is shablul, of which it says it 'melteth.' It was erroneously supposed by the Jews that by the slime which a snail leaves on its trail it gradually wasted away. The passage simply means that when dead the snail seems to melt entirely away: it is used as a symbol of the wicked passing away.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Snail . l . chômet ,   Leviticus 11:30 . See Lizard. 2 . shabbÄ•lul ,   Psalms 58:8 ‘Let them he as a snail which melteth and passeth away.’ The reference here appears to be to the slimy track which a snail leaves behind it, which gives the appearance of ‘melting away.’

E. W. G. Masterman.

King James Dictionary

SNAIL, n.

1. A slimy slow creeping animal, of the genus Helix, and order of Mollusca. The eyes of this insect are in the horns, one at the end of each, which it can retract at pleasure. 2. A drone a slow moving person.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

In  Leviticus 11:30 , is probably a sort of lizard; and in  Psalm 58:8 , the common slug or snail without a shell, which "melteth" away by depositing its slime wherever it passes.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Psalm 58:8 Leviticus 11:30

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

snāl ((1) חמט , ḥōmeṭ , the Revised Version (British and American) "sand-lizard," Septuagint σαῦρα , saúra , "lizard" (  Leviticus 11:30 ); (2) שׁבּלוּל , shabbelūl , Septuagint κηρός , kērós , "wax" ( Psalm 58:8 )): (1) Ḥōmeṭ is 7th in the list of unclean "creeping things" in  Leviticus 11:30 , and occurs nowhere else. "Snail" is not warranted by Septuagint or Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) the Revised Version (British and American) has "sand-lizard." It may be the skink or a species of Lacerta . See Lizard . (2) Shabbelūl is translated "snail" in  Psalm 58:8 : "Let them be as a snail which melteth and passeth away." Mandelkern gives limax , "slug." Gesenius derives shabbelūl from bālal , "to pour"; compare Arabic balla , "to wet," instancing λεῖμαξ , leı́max , "snail," or "slug," from λείβω , leı́bo , "to pour." While Septuagint has kēros , "wax," Talmud ( Mō‛ēdh Ḳāṭān 6b) supports "snail." The ordinary explanation of the passage, which is not very satisfying, is that the snail leaves a trail of mucus (i.e. it melts) as it moves along. This does not in any way cause the snail to waste away, because its glands are continually manufacturing fresh mucous. Two large species of snail, Helix aspersa and Helix pomatia , are collected and eaten, boiled, by the Christians of Syria and Palestine, especially in Lent. The Jews and Moslems declare them to be unclean and do not eat them.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Snails and slugs are not very common in countries so dry in summer as Palestine. Hence, perhaps, the fact, that there is only one allusion to them in Scripture. This occurs in , where the figure seems to be more significant, if understood of snails without shells, i.e. slugs, rather than shell-snails, though true of both.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Bibliography Information McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Snail'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/s/snail.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.