snirt
Appearance
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /snɜː(ɹ)t/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Etymology 1
[edit]Origin uncertain. Either from Middle English snurten (“to sneer; snort, snore”), a variation of snorten (“to snort”); or from Middle English *snyrten, an alteration of fnyrten, fnerten, from Old English fnǣrettan. Compare also Norwegian snurt (“vexed, peevish”), Middle English snirt (“stern, gloomy”).
Verb
[edit]snirt (third-person singular simple present snirts, present participle snirting, simple past and past participle snirted)
- (Scotland) To give a suppressed laugh or sharp intake of breath.
- 1833, Anonymous, writing in The Dublin University Magazine: A Literary and Political Journal, page 575, "Willie and Pate":
- "He grins, and snirts, and thraws ye ken —
I maist could die, wi' laughin."
- "He grins, and snirts, and thraws ye ken —
- 1837, James Hogg, “Katie Cheyne”, in Tales and Sketches, page 172:
- "But ye see there was a great deal of blushing and snirting, and bits of made coughs, as if to keep down a thorough guffau."
- 1871, William Black, A daughter of Heth: A novel, page 160:
- The Whaup grew very red in the face, and ‘snirted’ with laughter."
- 1833, Anonymous, writing in The Dublin University Magazine: A Literary and Political Journal, page 575, "Willie and Pate":
Noun
[edit]snirt (plural snirts)
- (Scotland) A suppressed laugh; a sharp intake of breath.
Derived terms
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit]Noun
[edit]snirt (uncountable)
- (Canada, US) Snow that is dirty, often seen by the side of roads and parking lots that have been plowed.
- 1975, United States House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture and Related Agencies, Agriculture and Related Agencies Appropriations for 1976[1], page 175:
- We then have what we call ‘snirt’ storms.
- 1985, United States House Committee on Agriculture, General Farm Bill of 1985: Hearings Before the Committee on Agriculture[2], page 924:
- Snirt or a mixture of snow and dirt is the term popularly applied to the windrows of dirt along the roads during a Minnesota winter.
- 1997, William S. Burroughs, Last Words, Grove Press, →ISBN, page 73:
- ‘Snirt’ is a thing of the spring.
- 2004, Dean Norman, Studio Cards: Funny Greeting Cards and People Who Created Them, Trafford Publishing,, →ISBN, page 131:
- […] it wasn't a hard winter. Only a couple of blizzards and snirt and snuss storms.
Derived terms
[edit]Anagrams
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