Verb. (thieves').—1. To inform. Hence snitcher = an informer. Also (2) = to nark (q.v.}.—Grose and Bee.
c.1812. John Jackson [quoted by Byron in Don Juan, xi. 19.] Then your blowing will wax gallows haughty, When she hears of your scaly mistake, She'll surely turn snitch for the forty, That her Jack may be regular weight.
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Snitch; to impeach, or betray your accomplices is termed snitching upon them. A person who becomes King's evidence on such an occasion is said to have turned snitch; an informer, or tale-bearer, in general, is called a snitch, or a snitching-rascal, in which case snitching is synonymous with nosing or coming it.
1829. The Lag's Lament [Vidocq's Mem., iii. 169]. Snitch on the gang, that'll be the best vay To save your scrag.
Snitched, adj. (horsedealers').—See
quot.
1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack . . . A horsedealer . . . was showing a farmer a horse that was snitched, that is glandered.
Snite, verb. (Old Cant).—To wipe:
to snite a candle = to snuff
it; 'Snite his Snitch = Wipe his
Nose or give him a good Flap on
the Face' (B. E.).
14[?]. Babees Book [E. E. T. S.], 13. Fro spettyng & snetyng kepe the also.
1599. Hall, Satires, vi. i. 104. He . . . wrings and snites, and weeps and wipes again.
1701. Grew, Cosmo Sacra, i. v. Nor would anyone be able to snite his nose, or to sneeze.
Sniv, verb. (Old Cant).—1. To
hold one's tongue: e.g. Sniv
that! (Grose). Also 2 (Vaux)
= Bender! (q.v.)
Snivel, subs. (colloquial).—Hypocrisy;
cant (q.v.): as verb. = to
complain; to bleat (q.v.).
Hence sniveller (or snivel-*ard)
= a whining malcontent;
snivelling = hypocritical repentance
(B. E. and Grose).
1440. Promp. Parv., 461. Snyve-*lard, or he that spekythe yn the nose.
c.1520. Coventry Myst., 'Assumption,' 396 [Oliphant, New Eng., i. 397. There is sneveler used in scorn.]
1767. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ix. 12. 'That snivelling virtue of meekness,' as my father would always call it.
1771. Smollett, Humphrey Clinker, Lett. v. I have received a snivelling letter from Griffin.
1780. Sheridan, The Camp, i. 1. Come forward, you snivelling, sneaking sot, you.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas [Routledge], 224. Indeed am I punished for having preposterously lowered myself to the level of a dirty snivelling adventurer.
1886. St. James's Gaz., 9 Feb. The cant and snivel of which we have seen so much of late.
1886. Besant, World Went Very Well Then, ii. Would'st not surely choose to be a sneakin' snivelling quill-driver in a merchant's office?
1888. Whipple, Essays and Reviews, ii. 117. He snivels in the cradle, at the school, at the altar . . . on the death-bed.
1898. Gould, Landed at Last, xviii. You snivelling coward.
Snivel-nose, subs. phr. (old).—A
niggard (Halliwell).
Snoach, verb. (old).—To speak
through the nose; to snuffle
(Grose).
Snob, subs. (old).—1. A shoemaker
(Grose); spec. a journeyman
cobbler (Halliwell).
1808. J. Mayne, Siller Gun, iii. 133. Counter to a mandate clear, Ane of ihe snobs Vain as a peacock, strutted here, In crimson robes.
1837. Barham, Ing. Leg., ii. 220, note. The Shoemaker, born a snob.
2. (old Univ.: then general).—An inferior: see quots.
1822. De Quincey, Conf. (1862), 120. Base snobs who would put up with a vile Brummagen substitute. Ibid. (1849), Eng. Mail Coach (Wks., 1854, iv. 293). If
