snap
/snæp/ noun, verb, interjection, adjective
Forms snaps snapping snapped snap! snapt
- noun A quick breaking or cracking sound or the action of producing such a sound.
- noun A sudden break.
- noun An attempt to seize, bite, attack, or grab.
- noun The act of snapping the fingers; making a sound by pressing a finger against the thumb and suddenly releasing to strike the hand.
- noun A fastening device that makes a snapping sound when used.
- noun (informal) A photograph; a snapshot. “We took a few snaps of the old church before moving on.”
- noun The sudden release of something held under pressure or tension.
- noun A thin circular cookie or similar baked good. “a ginger snap”
- verb (intransitive, transitive) To fracture or break apart suddenly. “He snapped his stick in anger.”
- verb (intransitive) To give forth or produce a sharp cracking noise; to crack. “Blazing firewood snaps.”
- verb (intransitive) To attempt to seize or bite with the teeth, beak, etc. “A dog snaps at a passenger. A fish snaps at the bait.”
- verb (intransitive) To attempt to seize with eagerness. “She snapped at the chance to appear on television.”
- verb (intransitive) To speak abruptly or sharply. “He snapped at me for the slightest mistake.”
- verb (intransitive) To give way abruptly and loudly.
- verb (intransitive) To suffer a mental breakdown, usually while under tension. “She should take a break before she snaps.”
- verb (intransitive) To flash or appear to flash as with light.
- interjection The cry used in a game of snap when winning a hand.
- interjection (UK, Australia, by extension) "I've got one the same!", "Me too!" “Snap! We've both got pink buckets and spades.”
- interjection (UK, by extension) Used to express agreement.
- interjection (Canada, US) Used in place of an expletive to express surprise, usually in response to a negative statement or news; often used facetiously. “I just ran over your phone with my car. —Oh, snap!”
Synonyms
rankout clack click clunk crack pop jinx Snapchat catch grab snatch snap bean gingersnap ginger snap ginger nut cracking elasticity snapshot shot snap fastener press stud cinch breeze picnic duck soup child's play pushover walkover piece of cake centering
Antonyms
Etymology
From Dutch snappen (“to bite; seize”) or Low German snappen (“to bite; seize”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snappōn, from Proto-Germanic *snappōną (“to snap; snatch; chatter”), intensive form of *snapāną (”to snap; grab”, whence Old Norse snapa (“to get; scrounge”)), from Proto-Indo-European *snop-; compare Lithuanian snãpas (“beak, bill”). (One alternative hypothesis links the Germanic words to *snu-, an expressive root deriving words meaning “nose”, “snout”, “sniff” etc., but this is phonetically unsound.) In any case influenced by onomatopoeia; note expressions such as snip-snap, containing the formally unrelated snip.
Cognate with West Frisian snappe (“to get; catch; snap”), German schnappen (“to grab”), Swedish snappa (“to snatch”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To break at once; to break short, as substances that are brittle.
- verb To strike, to hit, or to shut, with a sharp sound.
- verb To break short, or at once; to part asunder suddenly; as, a mast snaps; a needle snaps.
- verb To give forth, or produce, a sharp, cracking noise; to crack; as, blazing firewood snaps.
Etymology [LG. or D. snappen to snap up, to snatch; akin to G. schnappen, MHG. snaben, Dan. snappe, and to D. snavel beak, bill. Cf. Neb, Snaffle, n.]
Etymology [Cf. D. snap a snatching. See Snap, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “snap”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details