sneak
/sniːk/ noun, verb, adjective
Forms sneaks sneaking sneaked snuck
- noun One who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information. “My little brother is such a sneak; yesterday I caught him trying to look through my diary.”
- noun The act of sneaking
- noun A cheat; a con artist. “I can't believe I gave that sneak $50 for a ticket when they were selling for $20 at the front gate.”
- noun An informer; a tell-tale.
- noun (obsolete, cricket) A ball bowled so as to roll along the ground; a daisy-cutter
- noun (US) A sneaker; a tennis shoe.
- noun (American football) A play where the quarterback receives the snap and immediately dives forward.
- noun (slang, derogatory) An unworthy or deceptive entry in a list of high-ranking people or things.
- verb (intransitive) To creep or go stealthily; to come or go while trying to avoid detection, as a person who does not wish to be seen. “He decided to sneak into the kitchen for a second cookie while his mom was on the phone.”
- verb (transitive) To take (something) in a surreptitious manner, so as to avoid being noticed. “I went to sneak a chocolate but my dad caught me.”
- verb (ditransitive) To stealthily bring someone something. “She asked me to sneak her a phone next month.”
- verb (transitive, dated) To hide, especially in a mean or cowardly manner.
- verb (intransitive, informal, with on) To inform an authority of another's misdemeanours. “If you sneak on me I'll bash you!”
- adjective In advance; before release to the general public. “The company gave us a sneak look at their new electronic devices.”
- adjective In a stealthy or surreptitious manner. “I was able to get a sneak peek at the guest list.”
Synonyms
con artist trickster bristler bunco artist bunco-steerer chiseler confidence artist confidence trickster conman flimflammer grifter lugger magsman mountebank saltimbanco sharpster sharker shark-gull slicker smooth operator prowler stalker fink snitch snitcher stoolpigeon stool pigeon stoolie sneaker canary
Etymology
Possibly from Middle English sniken (“to creep, crawl”), from Old English snīcan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *snīkan, from Proto-Germanic *snīkaną (“to creep, crawl”), of sound-symbolic origin; compare formally unrelated snake, snoop, snook, snoke, and snoot. Cognate with Danish snige (“to sneak”), Swedish snika (“to sneak, hanker after”), Icelandic sníkja (“to sneak, hanker after”). Possibly related to snitch.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To creep or steal (away or about) privately; to come or go meanly, as a person afraid or ashamed to be seen; as, to sneak away from company. imp. & p. p. "snuck" is more common now, but not even mentioned here. In MW10, simply "sneaked or snuck" You skulked behind the fence, and sneaked away. Dryden.
- verb To act in a stealthy and cowardly manner; to behave with meanness and servility; to crouch.
- verb To hide, esp. in a mean or cowardly manner. [Obs.] "[Slander]
- noun A mean, sneaking fellow.
Etymology [OE. sniken, AS. snican to creep; akin to Dan. snige sig; cf. Icel. snikja to hanker after.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sneak”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details