iBet uBet web content aggregator. Adding the entire web to your favor.
iBet uBet web content aggregator. Adding the entire web to your favor.



Link to original content: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/snirt
snirt - Wiktionary, the free dictionary Jump to content

snirt

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]

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)

  1. (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."
    • 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."

Noun

[edit]

snirt (plural snirts)

  1. (Scotland) A suppressed laugh; a sharp intake of breath.
Derived terms
[edit]

Etymology 2

[edit]

Blend of snow +‎ dirt

Noun

[edit]

snirt (uncountable)

  1. (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

[edit]