What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Duck vs Snail - What's the difference?

duck | snail |

As verbs the difference between duck and snail

is that duck is to lower the head or body in order to prevent it from being struck by something while snail is to move or travel very slowly.

As nouns the difference between duck and snail

is that duck is an aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet while snail is any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell.

As a proper noun Duck

is {{surname}.

duck

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Verb

(en verb)
  • To lower the head or body in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
  • To lower (something) into water; to thrust or plunge under liquid and suddenly withdraw.
  • * Fielding
  • Adams, after ducking the squire twice or thrice, leaped out of the tub.
  • To go under the surface of water and immediately reappear; to plunge one's head into water or other liquid.
  • * Dryden
  • In Tiber ducking thrice by break of day.
  • To lower (the head) in order to prevent it from being struck by something.
  • (Jonathan Swift)
  • To bow.
  • * Shakespeare
  • The learned pate / Ducks to the golden fool.
  • To evade doing something.
  • To lower the volume of (a sound) so that other sounds in the mix can be heard more clearly.
  • * 2007 , Alexander U. Case, Sound FX: unlocking the creative potential of recording studio effects (page 183)
  • The music is ducked under the voice.
    Synonyms
    * (to lower the head) duck down * (to lower into the water) dip, dunk * (to lower in order to prevent it from being struck by something) dip
    Derived terms
    * duck and cover * duck out

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) ducke, dukke, doke, dokke, douke, duke, from (etyl) duce, .

    Noun

  • An aquatic bird of the family Anatidae, having a flat bill and webbed feet.
  • Specifically'', an adult female duck; ''contrasted with'' drake ''and with duckling.
  • (uncountable) The flesh of a duck used as food.
  • (cricket) A batsman's score of zero after getting out. (short for duck's egg, since the digit "0" is round like an egg.)
  • (slang) A playing card with the rank of two.
  • A partly-flooded cave passage with limited air space.
  • A building intentionally constructed in the shape of an everyday object to which it is related.
  • A luncheonette in the shape of a coffee cup is particularly conspicuous, as is intended of an architectural duck or folly.
  • * 2007 , Cynthia Blair, "It Happened on Long Island: 1988—Suffolk County Adopts the Big Duck," , 21 Feb.:
  • The Big Duck has influenced the world of architecture; any building that is shaped like its product is called a ‘duck ’.
  • A marble to be shot at with another marble (the shooter) in children's games.
  • (US) A cairn used to mark a trail.
  • Hyponyms
    * (bird) Anas platyrhynchos (domesticus), Mallard-derived domestic breeds, including Pekin, Rouen, Campbell, Call, Runner; Cairina moschata, Muscovy duck
    Derived terms
    * break one’s duck, break the duck * Burdekin duck * dabbling duck * decoy duck * diving duck * duck-arsed * duckbill * duck-billed * duckboard * duck-footed * duckling * duckness * ducks and drakes * ducks on the pond * hunt where the ducks are * lame duck * Lord love a duck * odd duck * Peking duck * rubber duck * * shelduck * sitting duck * take to something like a duck to water

    See also

    * anatine * drake * goose * quack * swan * waterfowl

    References

    * Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ISBN 978-1880069523

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) doek, from (etyl) doeck, .

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l) (Scotland)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A tightly-woven cotton fabric used as sailcloth.
  • * 1912 , , "The Woman At The Store", from Selected Short Stories :
  • He was dressed in a Jaeger vest—a pair of blue duck trousers, fastened round the waist with a plaited leather belt.
  • Trousers made of such material.
  • *1918 , (Rebecca West), The Return of the Soldier , Virago 2014, p. 56:
  • *:And they would go up and find old Allington, in white ducks , standing in the fringe of long grasses and cow-parsley on the other edge of the island […].
  • Etymology 4

    (central England). From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A term of endearment; pet; darling.
  • And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck (William Shakespeare - The Life of King Henry the Fifth, Act 2, Scene 3).
  • Dear, mate (informal way of addressing a friend or stranger).
  • Ay up duck , ow'a'tha?

    Synonyms

    * See

    Derived terms

    * ay up me duck

    snail

    English

    (wikipedia snail) (Helicidae)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda , having a coiled shell.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=7 citation , passage=‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared. […]’}}
  • (informal, by extension) A slow person; a sluggard.
  • (engineering) 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.
  • (military, historical) A tortoise or testudo; a movable roof or shed to protect besiegers.
  • * Vegetius (in translation)
  • They had also all manner of gynes [engines]
  • The pod of the snail clover.
  • Derived terms

    * snail mail * snail's pace

    See also

    * heliciculture * slug

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To move or travel very slowly
  • Anagrams

    * * *