snail's pace
A very slow, arduous pace or rate. My research is moving at a snail's pace—every experiment I've tried so far has failed. We're never going to recoup our development costs if the snail's pace of these sales doesn't pick up.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
snail's pace
A very slow pace, as in They're making progress with testing the new vaccine, but at a snail's pace. [c. 1400]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
at a snail's pace
Very slowly. The slowness of snails was pointed out about 200 b.c. by the Roman poet Plautus and the term “snail’s pace” in English goes back to about 1400. Relative to its size, however, a snail travels a considerable distance each day, using the undersurface of its muscular foot to propel itself.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer Copyright © 2013 by Christine Ammer