Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To fish for eels by thrusting a baited hook into their hiding places.
- v. To catch (an eel) in this manner.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A guttural, nasal, or granting laugh; a snicker: used in contempt.
- To fish for eels by thrusting bait into their lurking-places: a method chiefly English.
- To catch, as an eel, by pushing the bait into the hole where the eel is; hence, figuratively, to catch; snare; entrap.
Wiktionary
- v. To catch an eel by thrusting a baited hook into its den.
- v. Alternate spelling and pronunciation of snicker (corruption with giggle.) To chortle or chuckle.
- v. obsolete To steal something of little value; diminutive corruption of snag + diminutive suffix.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To fish for eels by thrusting the baited hook into their holes or hiding places.
- v. To catch, as an eel, by sniggling; hence, to hook; to insnare.
Etymologies
- From dialectal snig, a small eel, from Middle English snigge; probably akin to snegge, a snail, akin to Old English snægl, snail. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“All we have to go on is Sprint's word (* sniggle sniggle*) that it sold a lot of them.”
“Later, I found another tweeter saying that she had been sharing a power tower with me which led to a sniggle from another tweeter and wondering whether I was watching my name.”
“I almost got a Thoreau book, but there was that sniggle of guilt poking me in the eye.”
“Sleep Paralysis Page Cross-cultural nightmare experience - aka The Hag.sniggle. net (the culture-jammer's encyclopaedia).”
“I walked in to ask if they were hiring and the owner and another employee behind the counter started to sniggle (I couldn't decide whether "snicker" or "giggle" was more appropriate).”
“He did not rant; he did not cant; he did not whine; he did not sniggle; he just got up and spoke with the boldness of a man who was impressed with the truth of what he was saying, who has no fear of his enemies, and no dread of consequences.”
“Everyone was too intent on the exhibits, or on trying new foods and drinks, or on laughing at the wandering thranx sniggle poets, to pay special attention to one roving human-thranx pair.”
“Molly and Douglas did not like church; their fair heads were close together, and occasionally a faint sniggle would cause nurse to look round with stern reproval.”
“A subdued sniggle followed this sally of wit, during which John took his seat with such native grace as he could command, which at the moment was not much.”
“Wouldn't you indeed?' said Edgar quietly, in a nonchalant tone that made the younger lads bend down to sniggle behind their desks, while he moved on to the staircase.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sniggle’.
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Eels
Words and phrases about eels.
apodal, conger, grig, never served raw, eelpout, eel, eelskin briefcase, eelskin, tribes in Persia ..., sniggling, sniggle, eel spear and 130 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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CCle
all those wonderful Britsy words that end with a double consonant followed by 'le'
doddle, bobble, dibble, whiffle, waffle, diddle, piddle, jiggle, straggle, boggle, fiddle, skeedaddle and 125 more...
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That's funny...
words that make you smile...
can be funny words, oxymorons or words describing laughter and fun.giggle, sniggle, snicker, chuckle, titter, guffaw, smile, hoot, twitter, hee-haw, tee-hee, snort and 68 more...
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Hooks
hook, Captain Hook, shook, grappling hook, meat hook, pruning hook, hooks, hook 'em horns, Hook 'em Horns, sky-hook, hook, line, and s..., hook, line and si... and 66 more...
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FTL
Words listed first by me that don't belong in any other list.
licit, precis, mnemosyne, badinage, mariposa, lepidoptera, coruscation, poignant, meme, oxymoron, xenophobia, asterism and 128 more...
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Wordie/Wordnik Curio Cabinet
Oddments culled from my "main" lists that belong in a display cabinet of their own, plus sundry other curiosities. :-)
zeugma, ziggurat, xiphoid, xeric, whizgigging, whangdoodle, viviparous, vivific, vinolent, verjuice, vellicate, velleity and 1193 more...
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silverthread's Words
kerfuffle, ponder, hither, thither, persnickety, manhandle, fondle, snarky, trundle, truffle, fluffy, mangle and 90 more...
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puzzlers
words learned from crossword puzzles
ott, ogee, ulee, aida, cleek, stlo, yser, eero, sniggle, nostrum, oxlip, agist and 32 more...
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Laughter
fleer, chortle, wheeze, chuckle, guffaw, hoot, whoop, cackle, keckle, snigger, titter, snicker and 6 more...
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stragglers
double consonant -le verbs
hobble, straggle, huddle, hassle, addle, tattle, stipple, tipple, fiddle, peddle, coddle, cobble and 59 more...
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fun ones
fun to say or fun in meaning
sizzard, clou, matutolagnia, grok, xiphoid, cwm, cattywampus, scroop, loblolly, katzenjammer, sphygmus, forfex and 68 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sniggle.
reesetee Good grief! Here was this great word hanging around all these centuries and I didn't even know it! Apr 18, 2007
trivet to fish for eels by thrusting a baited hook into their lurking places. Apr 18, 2007