Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To utter a partly stifled laugh.
  • noun A partly stifled laugh.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To laugh in a half-suppressed or foolish manner; giggle.
  • To say in a giggling manner.
  • Also snigger.
  • noun A halfsuppressed laugh; a giggle. Also snigger.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A half suppressed, broken laugh.
  • intransitive verb To laugh slyly; to laugh in one's sleeve.
  • intransitive verb To laugh with audible catches of voice, as when persons attempt to suppress loud laughter.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A stifled or broken laugh
  • verb intransitive To emit a snicker: a stifled or broken laugh.
  • verb of a horse To whinny.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a disrespectful laugh
  • verb laugh quietly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps imitative.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

US variant of the British snigger, possibly of imitative origin, similar to Du. snikken "to gasp, sob." The noun is first recorded 1836, from the verb.

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Examples

  • = D or anyone. anyone thats not at school * snicker snicker* that is = D haha love you all! mwah!

    katebell Diary Entry katebell 2004

  • Oh - wait - i'm sorry, right - I'm doing it for the purpose of pure altruism. * snicker snicker*

    moschikat Diary Entry moschikat 2003

  • Wildlife candywwgm * snicker snicker* RT @Africafreak: Very "Unusual"

    Gaea Times (by Simple Thoughts) Breaking News and incisive views 24/7 2009

  • (to be fair, most posts on the "ClayBoard" * snicker snicker* were postitive and expressed support)

    Dlisted - Be Very Afraid 2008

  • * snicker snicker* And he thought I was a good girl!

    moschikat Diary Entry moschikat 2003

  • At seven in the morning, when Skipper rolled him out of the blanket and got up, Jerry celebrated the new day by chasing the wild-dog back into his hole and by drawing a snicker from the blacks on deck, when, with a growl and a flash of teeth, he made Lerumie side-step half a dozen feet and yield the deck to him.

    CHAPTER VII 2010

  • At seven in the morning, when Skipper rolled him out of the blanket and got up, Jerry celebrated the new day by chasing the wild-dog back into his hole and by drawing a snicker from the blacks on deck, when, with a growl and a flash of teeth, he made Lerumie side-step half a dozen feet and yield the deck to him.

    Chapter 7 1917

  • I agree with Pablo: Bush’s applause snicker is pretty disgusting.

    Think Progress » New Gallup poll: 2005

  • It made me snicker, which is about as hard as I can laugh while using the Web.

    Boing Boing: March 5, 2000 - March 11, 2000 Archives 2000

  • This last election cycle displayed his true colors, especially the demeaning "snicker" at the expense of community organizers.

    Giuliani pondering gubernatorial bid 2009

Comments

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  • Disrespectful? I don't know about that. To me, a snicker is just a high-pitched chortle (but not so high-pitched as a giggle).

    April 26, 2008

  • No, I think WeirdNet's right about this one. I don't think of a snicker as highpitched, to me it the sort of laugh you have at someone else's expense. And it's usually done behind your hand, too.

    April 26, 2008

  • "Adam laughed: a strange sound like the whickering snicker of a teazle in anger". Stella Gibbons Cold Comfort farm (and I still don't know what whickering means).

    February 15, 2013