Snakeneck Snake"neck` noun (Zoology) The snakebird, 1.
Snakeroot Snake"root` noun (Botany) Any one of several plants of different genera and species, most of which are (or were formerly) reputed to be efficacious as remedies for the bites of serpents; also, the roots of any of these. » The Virginia snakeroot is
Aristolochia Serpentaria ; black snakeroot is
Sanicula , esp.
S. Marilandica , also
Cimicifuga racemosa ; Seneca snakeroot is
Polygala Senega ; button snakeroot is
Liatris , also
Eryngium ; white snakeroot is
Eupatorium ageratoides . The name is also applied to some others besides these.
Snakestone Snake"stone` noun 1. A kind of hone slate or whetstone obtained in Scotland. 2. (Paleon.) An ammonite; -- so called from its form, which resembles that of a coiled snake.
Snakeweed Snake"weed` noun (Botany) (a) A kind of knotweed ( Polygonum Bistorta ). (b) The Virginia snakeroot. See Snakeroot .
Snakewood Snake"wood` noun (Botany) (a) An East Indian climbing plant ( Strychnos colubrina ) having a bitter taste, and supposed to be a remedy for the bite of the hooded serpent. (b) An East Indian climbing shrub ( Ophioxylon serpentinum ) which has the roots and stems twisted so as to resemble serpents. (c) Same as Trumpetwood . (d) A tropical American shrub ( Plumieria rubra ) which has very fragrant red blossoms. (e) Same as Letterwood .
Snakish Snak"ish adjective Having the qualities or characteristics of a snake; snaky.
Snaky Snak"y adjective 1. Of or pertaining to a snake or snakes; resembling a snake; serpentine; winding. The red light playing upon its gilt and carving gave it an appearance of snaky life.
Latin Wallace. 2. Sly; cunning; insinuating; deceitful. So to the coast of Jordan he directs
His easy steps, girded with snaky wiles.
Milton. 3. Covered with serpents; having serpents; as, a snaky rod or wand. Dryden. That snaky -headed, Gorgon shield.
Milton.
Snap Snap transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Snapped ;
present participle & verbal noun Snapping .] [ LG. or Dutch
snappen to snap up, to snatch; akin to German
schnappen , Middle High German
snaben , Danish
snappe , and to Dutch
snavel beak, bill. Confer
Neb ,
Snaffle ,
noun ]
1. To break at once; to break short, as substances that are brittle. Breaks the doors open, snaps the locks.
Prior. 2. To strike, to hit, or to shut, with a sharp sound. 3. To bite or seize suddenly, especially with the teeth. He, by playing too often at the mouth of death, has been snapped by it at last.
South. 4. To break upon suddenly with sharp, angry words; to treat snappishly; -- usually with up . Granville. 5. To crack; to cause to make a sharp, cracking noise; as, to snap a whip. MacMorian snapped his fingers repeatedly.
Sir W. Scott. 6. To project with a snap. To snap back (Football) ,
to roll the ball back with the foot; -- done only by the center rush, who thus delivers the ball to the quarter back on his own side when both sides are ranged in line. --
To snap off .
(a) To break suddenly .
(b) To bite off suddenly.
Snap Snap intransitive verb 1. To break short, or at once; to part asunder suddenly; as, a mast snaps ; a needle snaps . But this weapon will snap short, unfaithful to the hand that employs it.
Burke. 2. To give forth, or produce, a sharp, cracking noise; to crack; as, blazing firewood snaps . 3. To make an effort to bite; to aim to seize with the teeth; to catch eagerly (at anything); -- often with at ; as, a dog snaps at a passenger; a fish snaps at the bait. 4. To utter sharp, harsh, angry words; -- often with at ; as, to snap at a child. 5. To miss fire; as, the gun snapped .
Snap Snap noun [ Confer Dutch
snap a snatching. See
Snap ,
transitive verb ]
1. A sudden breaking or rupture of any substance. 2. A sudden, eager bite; a sudden seizing, or effort to seize, as with the teeth. 3. A sudden, sharp motion or blow, as with the finger sprung from the thumb, or the thumb from the finger. 4. A sharp, abrupt sound, as that made by the crack of a whip; as, the snap of the trigger of a gun. 5. A greedy fellow. L'Estrange. 6. That which is, or may be, snapped up; something bitten off, seized, or obtained by a single quick movement; hence, a bite, morsel, or fragment; a scrap. He's a nimble fellow,
And alike skilled in every liberal science,
As having certain snaps of all.
B. Jonson. 7. A sudden severe interval or spell; -- applied to the weather; as, a cold snap . Lowell. 8. A small catch or fastening held or closed by means of a spring, or one which closes with a snapping sound, as the catch of a bracelet, necklace, clasp of a book, etc. 9. (Zoology) A snap beetle. 10. A thin, crisp cake, usually small, and flavored with ginger; -- used chiefly in the plural. 11. Briskness; vigor; energy; decision. [ Colloq.]
12. Any circumstance out of which money may be made or an advantage gained. [ Slang]
Snap back (Football) ,
the act of snapping back the ball. --
Snap beetle , or
Snap bug (Zoology) ,
any beetle of the family Elateridæ , which, when laid on its back, is able to leap to a considerable height by means of a thoracic spring; -- called also snapping beetle . --
Snap flask (Molding) ,
a flask for small work, having its sides separable and held together by latches, so that the flask may be removed from around the sand mold. --
Snap judgment ,
a judgment formed on the instant without deliberation. --
Snap lock ,
a lock shutting with a catch or snap. --
Snap riveting ,
riveting in which the rivets have snapheads formed by a die or swaging tool. --
Snap shot ,
a quick offhand shot, without deliberately taking aim.
Snap Snap transitive verb (Cricket) To catch out sharply (a batsman who has just snicked a bowled ball).
Snap Snap intransitive verb Of the eyes, to emit sudden, brief sparkles like those of a snapping fire, as sometimes in anger.
Snap Snap noun 1. Any task, labor, set of circumstances, or the like, that yields satisfactory results or gives pleasure with little trouble or effort, as an easy course of study, a job where work is light, a bargain, etc. [ Slang, Chiefly U. S.]
2. A snap shot with a firearm. 3. (Photog.) A snapshot. 4. Something of no value; as, not worth a snap . [ Colloq.]
Snap Snap adjective Done, performed, made, executed, carried through, or the like, quickly and without deliberation; as, a snap judgment or decision; a snap political convention. [ Colloq.]
Snapdragon Snap"drag`on noun 1. (Botany) (a) Any plant of the scrrophulariaceous genus Antirrhinum , especially the cultivated A. majus , whose showy flowers are fancifully likened to the face of a dragon. (b) A West Indian herb ( Ruellia tuberosa ) with curiously shaped blue flowers. 2. A play in which raisins are snatched from a vessel containing burning brandy, and eaten; also, that which is so eaten. See Flapdragon . Swift.
Snape Snape transitive verb (Shipbuilding) To bevel the end of a timber to fit against an inclined surface.
Snaphance Snap"hance` noun [ Dutch
snaphaan a gun, originally, the snapping cock of a gun. See
Snap , and
Hen .]
1. A spring lock for discharging a firearm; also, the firearm to which it is attached. [ Obsolete]
2. A trifling or second-rate thing or person. [ Obsolete]
Snaphead Snap"head` noun A hemispherical or rounded head to a rivet or bolt; also, a swaging tool with a cavity in its face for forming such a rounded head.
Snapper Snap"per noun 1. One who, or that which, snaps; as, a snapper up of trifles; the snapper of a whip. 2. (Zoology) Any one of several species of large sparoid food fishes of the genus Lutjanus , abundant on the southern coasts of the United States and on both coasts of tropical America. » The red snapper (
Lutjanus aya, or Blackfordi ) and the gray, or mangrove, snapper (
Latin griseus ) are large and abundant species. The name is loosely applied to various other fishes, as the bluefish, the rosefish, the red grouper, etc. See
Rosefish .
3. (Zoology) A snapping turtle; as, the alligator snapper . 4. (Zoology) The green woodpecker, or yaffle. 5. (Zoology) A snap beetle.
Snapper Snap"per noun 1. (Teleg.) A device with a flexible metal tongue for producing clicks like those of the sounder. 2. A string bean. [ Colloq., U. S.]
Snapping Snap"ping adjective & noun from Snap , v. Snapping beetle .
(Zoology) See Snap beetle , under Snap . --
Snapping turtle .
(Zoology) (a) A large and voracious aquatic turtle ( Chelydra serpentina ) common in the fresh waters of the United States; -- so called from its habit of seizing its prey by a snap of its jaws. Called also mud turtle . (b) See Alligator snapper , under Alligator .
Snappish Snap"pish adjective 1. Apt to snap at persons or things; eager to bite; as, a snapping cur. 2. Sharp in reply; apt to speak angrily or testily; easily provoked; tart; peevish. The taunting address of a snappish misanthrope.
Jeffrey. --
Snap"pish*ly ,
adverb --
Snap"pish*ness ,
noun
Snappy Snap"py adjective Snappish. [ Colloq.]
Snapsack Snap"sack` noun [ Confer Swedish
snappsäck , German
schnappsack .]
A knapsack. [ Obsolete]
South.
Snapshot Snap"shot` noun 1. Commonly
Snap shot (a) A quick offhand shot, made without deliberately taking aim over the sights. (b) (Photog.) Act of taking a snapshot (in sense 2). 2. An instantaneous photograph made, usually with a hand camera, without formal posing of, and often without the foreknowledge of, the subject.
Snapweed Snap"weed` noun (Botany) See Impatiens .
Snar Snar intransitive verb [ Akin to LG. & OD.
snarren , German
schnarren , English
snore . See
Snore , and confer
Snarl to growl.]
To snarl. [ Obsolete]
Spenser.
Snare Snare noun [ Anglo-Saxon
snear a cord, a string; akin to Dutch
snoer , German
schnur , Old High German
snour a cord,
snarahha a noose, Danish
snare , Swedish & Icelandic
snara , Goth.
sn...rj... a basket; and probably also to English
needle . See
Needle , and confer
Snarl to entangle.]
1. A contrivance, often consisting of a noose of cord, or the like, by which a bird or other animal may be entangled and caught; a trap; a gin. 2. Hence, anything by which one is entangled and brought into trouble. If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed,
Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee.
Shak. 3. The gut or string stretched across the lower head of a drum. 4. (Medicine) An instrument, consisting usually of a wireloop or noose, for removing tumors, etc., by avulsion. Snare drum ,
the smaller common military drum, as distinguished from the bass drum ; -- so called because (in order to render it more resonant) it has stretched across its lower head a catgut string or strings.
Snare Snare transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Snared ;
present participle & verbal noun Snaring .]
To catch with a snare; to insnare; to entangle; hence, to bring into unexpected evil, perplexity, or danger. Lest that too heavenly form . . . snare them.
Milton. The mournful crocodile
With sorrow snares relenting passengers.
Shak.
Snarer Snar"er noun One who lays snares, or entraps.
Snarl Snarl transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Snarled ;
present participle & vverbal noun Snarling .] [ Etymol. uncertain.]
To form raised work upon the outer surface of (thin metal ware) by the repercussion of a snarling iron upon the inner surface.
Snarl Snarl transitive verb [ From
Snare ,
transitive verb ]
1. To entangle; to complicate; to involve in knots; as, to snarl a skein of thread. "Her
snarled hair."
Spenser. 2. To embarrass; to insnare. [ The] question that they would have snarled him with.
Latimer.
Snarl Snarl noun A knot or complication of hair, thread, or the like, difficult to disentangle; entanglement; hence, intricate complication; embarrassing difficulty.
Snarl Snarl intransitive verb [ From
Snar .]
1. To growl, as an angry or surly dog; to gnarl; to utter grumbling sounds. "An angry cur
snarls while he feeds."
Dryden & Lee. 2. To speak crossly; to talk in rude, surly terms. It is malicious and unmanly to snarl at the little lapses of a pen, from which Virgil himself stands not exempted.
Dryden.
Snarl Snarl noun The act of snarling; a growl; a surly or peevish expression; an angry contention.
Snarler Snarl"er noun One who snarls; a surly, growling animal; a grumbling, quarrelsome fellow.
Snarler Snarl"er noun One who makes use of a snarling iron.
Snarling Snarl"ing adjective & noun from Snarl , v. Snarling iron ,
a tool with a long beak, used in the process of snarling. When one end is held in a vise, and the shank is struck with a hammer, the repercussion of the other end, or beak, within the article worked upon gives the requisite blow for producing raised work. See 1st Snarl .
Snary Snar"y adjective [ From
Snare .]
Resembling, or consisting of, snares; entangling; insidious. Spiders in the vault their snary webs have spread.
Dryden.
Snast Snast noun [ Confer
Snite ,
transitive verb ]
The snuff, or burnt wick, of a candle. [ Obsolete]
Bacon.
Snatch Snatch transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Snatched ;
present participle & verbal noun Snatching .] [ Middle English
snachen ,
snechen ; akin to Dutch
snakken to gasp, to long (for), to desire. Confer
Snack ,
noun ,
Sneck .]
1. To take or seize hastily, abruptly, or without permission or ceremony; as, to snatch a loaf or a kiss. When half our knowledge we must snatch , not take.
Pope. 2. To seize and transport away; to rap. "
Snatch me to heaven."
Thomson. Syn. -- To twitch; pluck; grab; catch; grasp; gripe.
Snatch Snatch intransitive verb To attempt to seize something suddenly; to catch; -- often with at ; as, to snatch at a rope.
Snatch Snatch noun 1. A hasty catching or seizing; a grab; a catching at, or attempt to seize, suddenly. 2. A short period of vigorous action; as, a snatch at weeding after a shower. Tusser. They move by fits and snatches .
Bp. Wilkins. 3. A small piece, fragment, or quantity; a broken part; a scrap. We have often little snatches of sunshine.
Spectator. Leave me your snatches , and yield me a direct answer.
Shak.
Snatch block Snatch block (Nautical) , a kind of block with an opening in one side to receive the bight of a rope.
Snatcher Snatch"er noun One who snatches, or takes abruptly.
Snatchingly Snatch"ing·ly adverb By snatching; abruptly.
Snath Snath (snăth)
noun [ Confer Anglo-Saxon
snīğan to cut, to mow,
snǣd a bite, bit, snip.]
The handle of a scythe; a snead. [ Variously written in England
snead ,
sneed ,
sneath ,
sneeth ,
snathe , etc.; in Scotland written
sned .]
Snathe Snathe (snā&thlig;)
transitive verb [ Confer Icelandic
sneiğa to cut into alices,
snīğa to cut; akin to Anglo-Saxon be
snǣdan ,
snīğan , German
schneiden , Old High German
snīdan , Goth.
sneiþan to cut, to reap, and English
snath ,
snithe .]
To lop; to prune. [ Prov. Eng.]
Snattock Snat"tock (snăt"tŭk)
noun [ See
Snathe .]
A chip; a slice. [ Prov. Eng.]
Gayton.
Snaw Snaw (sna)
noun Snow. [ Obsolete or Scot.]
Burns.
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