snail syrup

English

Noun

snail syrup

1. A syrup made from snail slime for medicinal use.
   • 1892, The Asclepiad. v. 9, 1892 - Volume 9, page 82:

     Some of his means of cure are crude enough, as, for example, when he prescribes snails and snail syrup; but there is one line of treatment, by way of inhalation, which he names, and which ought not, in these days, to be forgotten.

   • 1900, John William Taylor, Monograph of the Land & Freshwater Mollusca of the British Isles, page 428:

     Snail syrup, prepared by passing a stout thread through the shell and body of a number of snails, and suspending them over a dish of coarse brown sugar, upon which their mucilaginous exudations are allowed to drop, is recommended by the village dames of Sussex as a specific for coughs and colds.

   • 1981, Yvonne Jack, Don't Push the Sister, page 14:

     He reminded himself of one thing on reaching home, and that was to take the ground lizard and snail syrup his 'nennen' had brought for his asthma all the way from Grenada.

   • 2004, Gloria Hutchinson, Be Comforted, page 109:

     Another time she was required to drink snail-syrup for medicinal purposes.