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Snail vs Gnome - What's the difference?

snail | gnome |

As nouns the difference between snail and gnome

is that snail is any of very many animals (either hermaphroditic or nonhermaphroditic), of the class Gastropoda, having a coiled shell while gnome is a brief reflection or maxim; a pithy saying.

As a verb snail

is to move or travel very slowly.

As a proper noun GNOME is

an open source, free software computer desktop environment for Unix operating systems.

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

    * * *

    gnome

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • A brief reflection or maxim; a pithy saying.
  • * 1996 , , Giorgio A. Pinton, Arthur W. Shippee (translators), The Art of Rhetoric'', [1711-1741, Giambattista Vico, ''Institutiones Oratoriae ], page 125,
  • The Greeks in their tongue call this second type of maxim noema''. The gnome''' is more appropriate to the philosophers, and the noema to the orators, to the poets, and to the historians. To speak by '''gnomes alone was referred to by the Greeks as "philosophizing" which we Italians would render as "to mouth maxims" (''sputar sentenze ).
  • * 2003 , Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, Tragedy and Athenian Religion , page 386,
  • Thus, the gnome''''' concerning the precarious nature of, and the potential suffering in, human life sent by the gods uttered by Electra is deconstructed by her choice of paradigm. By using Tantalos as an illustration, the play overturns the apparent meaning of the '''''gnome .
    Synonyms
    * adage, apothegm, maxim, paroemia, proverb, sententia

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (magic, alchemy, Rosicrucianism) An elemental (spirit or corporeal creature associated with a classical element) associated with earth.
  • * 1811 , The Medical and Physical Journal , Volume 25, page 138,
  • He adopts the Rosycrusian fancy of Gnomes , spirits which inhabit the earth, and who by their power form the ores of metals, and all the wonders met with in the inmost recesses of the globe.
  • * 2006 , Greg Lynch, RuneQuest Monsters , page 52,
  • Gnomes are perhaps the most useful of the elementals.
    A gnome' can carry a person with it as it swims through the soil, provided it is strong enough to lift the person. The ' gnome cannot, however, provide air for that person.
  • * 2007 , Christopher Penczak, Ascension Magick: Ritual, Myth and Healing for the New Aeon , page 413,
  • Elementals are the consciousness guiding the four classical elements of earth, fire, air, and water. These elementals are depicted as gnomes , salamanders, diminutive faeries known as sylphs, and merfolk, known as undines, respectively.
  • (mythology, fantasy literature) One of a legendary race of human-like beings, usually imagined as short bearded males, who inhabit the inner parts of the earth and act as guardians of mines, mineral treasure, etc.
  • * 2011 , Ross Lawhead, The Realms Thereunder , page 251,
  • There were not one but four gnomes standing at his feet. “I nearly trod on you,” Daniel said. “What are you doing here?”
    The gnomes just stood, looking up at him.
  • A dwarf; a goblin; a person of small stature or misshapen features, or of strange appearance.
  • The (northern pygmy owl), , a small owl of the western United States.
  • A small statue placed in a garden to ward off pests and protect a home from sorcery.
  • * 2011 , Bronwen Forbes, The Small-Town Pagan's Survival Guide , page 72,
  • My mother-in-law, who swears she is a good Lutheran but is also the most powerful Witch I have ever met, also has at least a dozen small lawn gnomes' peeking out from beside her shrubs, next to the lilac bushes, and hanging out with the roses. My husband has already started our collection; as of this writing, four '''gnomes''' and one moss-covered rabbit hang out in the shrubbery by the front door, two ' gnomes live in the dining room, and one guards the perpetual pile of to-do paperwork that lives next to the computer.
  • (astronomy, meteorology) An upper atmospheric optical phenomenon associated with thunderstorms, a compact blue starter.
  • Derived terms
    * garden gnome

    See also

    * kobold * salamander (elemental of fire) * sylph (elemental of air) * undine (elemental of water)

    References

    * * * ----