2. Hence, a drone; a slow-moving person or thing.
3. (Mech.) 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.
4. A tortoise; in ancient warfare, a movable roof or shed to
protect besiegers; a testudo. [Obs.]
They had also all manner of gynes [engines] . . .
that needful is [in] taking or sieging of castle or
of city, as snails, that was naught else but hollow
pavises and targets, under the which men, when they
fought, were heled [protected], . . . as the snail
is in his house; therefore they cleped them snails.
--Vegetius
(Trans.).
5. (Bot.) The pod of the sanil clover.
{Ear snail}, {Edible snail}, {Pond snail}, etc. See under
{Ear}, {Edible}, etc.
{Snail borer} (Zo["o]l.), a boring univalve mollusk; a drill.
{Snail clover} (Bot.), a cloverlike plant ({Medicago
scuttellata}, also, {M. Helix}); -- so named from its
pods, which resemble the shells of snails; -- called also
{snail trefoil}, {snail medic}, and {beehive}.
{Snail flower} (Bot.), a leguminous plant ({Phaseolus
Caracalla}) having the keel of the carolla spirally coiled
like a snail shell.
{Snail shell} (Zo["o]l.), the shell of snail.
{Snail trefoil}. (Bot.) See {Snail clover}, above.
Note: A common and typical form of beehive was a domeshaped
inverted basket, whence certain ancient Irish and
Scotch architectural remains are called beehive houses.