snail's pace
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Alternative forms
Etymology
From the fact that snails move very slowly.
Noun
- (informal) A frustratingly slow rate of speed.
- My grandmother drives her car at a snail's pace.
- 1952 July, W. R. Watson, “Sankey Viaduct and Embankment”, in Railway Magazine, page 487:
- 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."
Usage notes
Generally restricted to the phrase at a snail's pace.
Related terms
Translations
a frustratingly slow speed
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Anagrams
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