snitch
/snɪt͡ʃ/ verb, noun
Forms snitches snitching snitched
- verb (slang, intransitive) To inform on someone, especially in betrayal of others.
- verb (slang, intransitive) To contact or cooperate with the police for any reason.
- verb (slang, dated, transitive) To steal, quickly and quietly.
- noun (slang) A thief.
- noun (slang) An informer, one who betrays their group.
- noun (slang, UK) A nose.
- noun A tiny morsel.
- noun A ball used in the sport of Quidditch: the Golden Snitch.
Synonyms
drop a dime filch nick pilfer pocket grass up rat out filcher grass schnozz bite snap snippock pincher mole quisling rat stool pigeon sneck fink snitcher stoolpigeon stoolie sneak sneaker canary hook thieve cop knock off
Etymology
Origin uncertain. Perhaps an alteration of Middle English snacche (“a trap, snare”), snacchen (“to seize (prey)”, whence modern English snatch). Compare also Middle English snik snak (“a sudden blow, snap”). Alternatively, perhaps from a dialectal variant of sneak, from Middle English sniken, from Old English snīcan (“to creep; crawl”). More at sneak, snatch.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “snitch”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details