Dictionary

snail's pace en · NOUN

Etymology

Due to the fact that snails move very slowly.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, informal) A frustratingly slow rate of speed.
   • My grandmother drives her car at a snail's pace.
   • He describes the operation thus: "The heavy ram employed to impart the finishing strokes, hoisted up with double purchase and snail's pace to the summit of the Piling Engine, and then falling down like a thunderbolt on the head of the devoted timber, driving it perhaps a single half inch in to the stratum below, is well calculated to put to the test the virtue of patience, while it illustrates the old adage of—slow and sure." 1952 July, W. R. Watson, “Sankey Viaduct and Embankment”, in Railway Magazine, page 487:
   • Tim Johnson[a sick dog] was advancing at a snail’s pace, but he was not playing or sniffing at foliage: he seemed dedicated to one course and motivated by an invisible force that was inching him toward us. We could see him shiver like a horse shedding flies; his jaw opened and shut; he was alist, but he was being pulled gradually toward us. 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

Forms

Relateds

slow as molasses in January · walking pace · slow as a snail · slow as molasses

Translations (22)

af slakkepas (a frustratingly slow speed) · fi etanan vauhti (a frustratingly slow speed) · sv snigelfart (a frustratingly slow speed) · pt a passo de caracol (a frustratingly slow speed) · nn sniglefart (a frustratingly slow speed) · nl slakkengang (a frustratingly slow speed) · ga teacht an tseilide (a frustratingly slow speed) · fo snigilsferð (a frustratingly slow speed) · gl a paso de tartaruga (a frustratingly slow speed) · is hægagangur (a frustratingly slow speed) · mk како полжав (a frustratingly slow speed) · de Schneckentempo (a frustratingly slow speed) · ca pas de bou (a frustratingly slow speed) · pl żółwim krokiem (a frustratingly slow speed) · nb sneglefart (a frustratingly slow speed) · ko 달팽이 걸음 (a frustratingly slow speed) · it a passo di tartaruga (a frustratingly slow speed) · fr à pas de tortue (a frustratingly slow speed) · ca pas de tortuga (a frustratingly slow speed) · es a paso de tortuga (a frustratingly slow speed) · da sneglefart (a frustratingly slow speed) · it a passo di lumaca (a frustratingly slow speed)