snipe
/snaɪp/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms snipes sniping sniped
- noun Any of various limicoline game birds of the genera Gallinago, Lymnocryptes and Coenocorypha in the family Scolopacidae, having a long, slender, nearly straight beak.
- noun A fool; a blockhead.
- noun A shot fired from a concealed place.
- noun (naval slang) A member of the engineering department on a ship.
- noun (ice hockey slang) A goal.
- verb (intransitive) To hunt snipe.
- verb (intransitive) To shoot at individuals from a concealed place.
- verb (intransitive, by extension) To shoot with a sniper rifle.
- verb (transitive) To watch a timed online auction and place a winning bid against (the current high bidder) at the last possible moment.
- verb (transitive) To nose (a log) to make it drag or slip easily in skidding.
- verb (ice hockey slang) To score a goal.
- verb To move the ball quickly in a different direction.
- noun (slang) A cigarette butt.
- noun An end of a log remaining after timber has been cut away.
- noun An animated promotional logo during a television show.
- noun A strip of copy announcing some late breaking news or item of interest, typically placed in a print advertisement in such a way that it stands out from the ad.
- noun A bottle of wine measuring 0.1875 liters, one fourth the volume of a standard bottle; a quarter bottle or piccolo.
- noun A sharp, clever answer; sarcasm.
- noun A note or sticker attached to an existing poster to provide further information (e.g. an event is sold out, political criticism, etc.).
- verb (intransitive) To make malicious, underhand remarks or attacks.
Synonyms
snipe-end snark sharpshoot attack round assail lash out assault
Etymology
From Middle English snipe, snype (“a type of bird”), from Old Norse snípa, as in mýrisnípa (“moor snipe”). Akin to Norwegian snipe.
* The verb originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India, where a hunter skilled enough to kill the elusive bird was dubbed a sniper. The term sniper was first attested in 1824, in the sense of sharpshooter.
Probably from snip or a cognate
Either from sneap or a figurative development from Etymology 1.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any one of numerous species of limicoline game birds of the family Scolopacidæ, having a long, slender, nearly straight beak.
- noun A fool; a blockhead. [R.] Shak. Half snipe, the dunlin; the jacksnipe.
Etymology [OE. snipe; akin to D. snep, snip, LG. sneppe, snippe, G. schnepfe, Icel. snipa (in comp.), Dan. sneppe, Sw. snäppa a sanpiper, and possibly to E. snap. See Snap, Snaffle.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “snipe”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details