Snipe Snipe noun [ Middle English
snipe ; akin to Dutch
snep ,
snip , LG.
sneppe ,
snippe , German
schnepfe , Icelandic
snīpa (in comp.), Danish
sneppe , Swedish
snäppa a sanpiper, and possibly to English
snap . See
Snap ,
Snaffle .]
1. (Zoology) Any one of numerous species of limicoline game birds of the family Scolopacidæ , having a long, slender, nearly straight beak. » The common, or whole, snipe (
Gallinago cœlestis ) and the great, or double, snipe (
G. major ), are the most important European species. The Wilson's snipe (
G. delicata ) (sometimes erroneously called
English snipe ) and the gray snipe, or dowitcher (
Macrohamphus griseus ), are well- known American species.
2. A fool; a blockhead. [ R.]
Shak. Half snipe ,
the dunlin; the jacksnipe. - -
Jack snipe .
See Jacksnipe . --
Quail snipe .
See under Quail . --
Robin snipe ,
the knot. --
Sea snipe .
See in the Vocabulary. --
Shore snipe ,
any sandpiper. --
Snipe hawk ,
the marsh harrier. [ Prov. Eng.] --
Stone snipe ,
the tattler. --
Summer snipe ,
the dunlin; the green and the common European sandpipers. --
Winter snipe .
See Rock snipe , under Rock . --
Woodcock snipe ,
the great snipe.
Snook Snook (snōk)
intransitive verb [ Prov. English
snook to search out, to follow by the scent; confer Swedish
snoka to lurk, LG.
snöggen ,
snuckern ,
snökern , to snuffle, to smell about, to search for.]
To lurk; to lie in ambush. [ Obsolete]