SNUFF • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Snuff

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/snəf/ Listen

noun

Snuff n. The part of a candle wick charred by the flame, whether burning or not. "If the burning snuff happens to get out of the snuffers, you have a chance that it may fall into a dish of soup."

Snuff n.

The act of snuffing; perception by snuffing; a sniff.

Pulverized tobacco, etc., prepared to be taken into the nose; also, the amount taken at once.

Resentment, displeasure, or contempt, expressed by a snuffing of the nose. (Obs.)

Snuff dipping. See Dipping, n., 5.

Snuff taker, one who uses snuff by inhaling it through the nose.

To take it in snuff, to be angry or offended.

Up to snuff, not likely to be imposed upon; knowing; acute. (Slang)

verb

Snuff v. t. (past & past part. snuffed; pres. part. snuffing) To crop the snuff of, as a candle; to take off the end of the snuff of.

To snuff out, to extinguish by snuffing.

Snuff v. t.

To draw in, or to inhale, forcibly through the nose; to sniff. "He snuffs the wind, his heels the sand excite."

To perceive by the nose; to scent; to smell.

Snuff v. i.

To inhale air through the nose with violence or with noise, as do dogs and horses.

To turn up the nose and inhale air, as an expression of contempt; hence, to take offense. "Do the enemies of the church rage and snuff?"

See images of 'Snuff'

Etymology of 'Snuff'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Snuff" Quotes from Famous Books

... she was as happy as any woman in Scotland. She could hardly speak any English except a few detached words. Dr. Johnson was pleased at seeing, for the first time, such a state of human life. She asked for snuff. It is her luxury, and she uses a great deal. We had none; but gave her sixpence a piece. She then brought out her whiskey bottle. I tasted it; as did Joseph and our guides, so I gave her sixpence more. She sent us away ...

— Life Of Johnson, Volume 5 • Boswell

... rascals to be off to their work, or they should taste of my thong, and proceeded, as well as I could, to comfort Mrs. Fitzsimons under her misfortunes. 'Had she lost much?' 'Everything: her purse, containing upwards of a hundred guineas; her jewels, snuff-boxes, watches, and a pair of diamond shoe-buckles of the Captain's.' These mishaps I sincerely commiserated; and knowing her by her accent to be an Englishwoman, deplored the difference that existed between the two countries, and said that in OUR ...

— Barry Lyndon • William Makepeace Thackeray

... vegetates, and with all these bad-smelling mixtures—his barn was like a big agricultural drug-store—he was going to put into his skinned land just the elements lacking. In short, he gave his soil a big dose of powders, and we all know the result. If he had given his farm a pinch of snuff better crops ought to have been sneezed. No chemicals and land doctors for me, thank you. Beg pardon, Marvin! no reflections on your calling, but doctorin' land don't seem profitable for those who pay ...

— Nature's Serial Story • E. P. Roe

... when pigs spoke rhyme And monkeys chewed tobacco, And hens took snuff to make them tough, And ducks went quack, ...

— Children's Literature - A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes • Charles Madison Curry

... little astonished to discover in the pockets of the occupants of so small and humble a ship as this schooner a fine gold watch as rich as the one I had brought away from the man on the rocks, and more elegant in shape, a gold snuff-box set with diamonds, several rings of beauty and value lying loose in the breeches pocket of the man whose face was hidden, a handful of Spanish pieces in gold, handkerchiefs of fine silk, and other articles, as if indeed these fellows had been overhauling ...

— The Frozen Pirate • W. Clark Russell

More quotes...