(1.) Hebrews homit, among the unclean creeping things (Leviticus 11:30). This was probably the sand-lizard, of which there are many species in the wilderness of Judea and the Sinai peninsula.

(2.) Hebrews 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.'"

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (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.

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

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

4. (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.

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

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