释义 |
snail-shell [snail n.1] 1. The shell or house of a snail; = cochlea 3.
1530Palsgr. 272/1 Snayle or snayle shell, lymacon. 1578T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 311 They entred..with the sound of drummes, snaile-shelles and other instrumentes of Musicke. 1611Cotgr., Limace,..any thing that winds or turnes like a Snaile-shell. 1676Phil. Trans. XI. 594 Turn'd helically like a Snail-shell. 1713Petiver Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ Tab. iv, Valvata,..Small waved Snail-shell. 1775Ash, Cochlea,..a genus of shell fish, a snail-shell. 1822J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 248 The exterior characters of the snail-shells of the present day. 1891Science-Gossip XXVII. 18/1 The lower step..bore witness to the frequent visits of the thrushes, for it was covered with broken snail⁓shells. b. attrib., as snail-shell pattern; snail-shell medick, (a) heart-clover; (b) snail plant.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 660 Medicago arabica,..Snailshell Medick. 1855Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 92 The Snail-shell Medick of the South of Europe (Medicago scutellata). 1898Daily News 17 Sept. 6/2 Richly braided in a snail-shell pattern. †2. = cochlea 2. Obs.—1
1683Phil. Trans. XIII. 261 The Small-bones,..the Snail⁓shell,..have the same figure and..bulk in Infants which they have in men. |