Definitions

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

  • noun An onomatopoeia of unclear meaning, possibly referring to sharpness, or the sound of a blade cutting through something.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Coined by Lewis Carroll in his poem Jabberwocky, probably relating to snickersnee.

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Examples

  • And through and through/The vorpal scissors went snicker-snack!

    Beware The Jabbergum - Her Bad Mother 2010

  • Say it once, say it clearly, and if that fails, bring out the vorpal sword that goes snicker-snack!

    When to Walk Away zornhau 2010

  • Put your vorpal blade away, snicker-snack, your wit is too cutting by half.

    Hillary Campaign: No, We Won The Nevada Caucuses 2009

  • Open shutter for a brief snicker-snack, then shut and return to Pinhole for processing.

    Alice in Mail Art Land/Traveling Light with a Pinhole Camera 2009

  • Backed by the confident narration of Will Lyman he could call a round of bingo and make it sound imperative, Frontline cuts snicker-snack through the confusing events and decision tree of our near-miss financial collapse.

    Frontline explains the 2008 financial meltdown « The Retort 2009

  • Put your vorpal blade away, snicker-snack, your wit is too cutting by half. stellaa wrote on January 20, 2008 12: 21 AM: duckduckduckduck wrote on January 19, 2008 11: 54 PM: Big story in the paper .....

    Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Hillary Campaign: No, We Won The Nevada Caucuses 2009

  • One of the creatures was still mobile, and with a look of contemptuous impatience on his face, Morgan drew the broadsword at his hip — the one used for executions of wizards guilty of breaking one of the Laws of Magic — paused a beat to get the timing right, and then swung, once, twice, snicker-snack, and the zombie fell apart into a number of wriggling bits.

    Dead Beat Butcher, Jim 2005

  • And through and through, The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

    trinityboy Diary Entry trinityboy 2005

  • He wanted to hear the wet snicker-snack of a knife slitting skin, he wanted to feel the hot rain of someone's life splatteringg on his hands, he wanted to watch the last glimmer of hope bleed from their face until finally there was only endless, dreadful nothingness.

    Alone Gardner, Lisa 2005

  • The beamish boy slew the burbling jabberwock with his vorpal blade, which went snicker-snack: “He left it dead, and with its head / He went galumphing back.”

    The Right Word in the Right Place at the Right Time William Safire 2004

Comments

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  • How the vorpal blade went!

    July 19, 2007

  • What is that from, it WILL drive crazy until I remember or someone tells me.

    July 19, 2007

  • Jabberwocky!

    July 19, 2007

  • Dude, THANK YOU. Also, I never would have guessed it, not in a million years. Vorpal sounds very sci-fi to me.

    July 19, 2007

  • It's one of those poems everyone should know!

    (Confession time: I didn't know it... but Google is my friend.) ;-)

    July 19, 2007

  • You guys are so mimsy.

    July 19, 2007

  • OMG U, you cheater! I totally thought you knew it off the top of your head!

    PS R you're mad borograve.

    July 20, 2007

  • Why thanks, arby. My mome raths have always been rather outgrabe.

    July 20, 2007

  • Keen!

    July 20, 2007

  • (noun- slang) snicker-snack: a quick snack or mid-meal treat, a snack for road trips or events, children's snacks. (ex: Let's stop by the store and get some snicker-snacks for the road.) Derived from Lewis Carrol's term 'snicker snack' used in the poem Jabberwocky.

    September 25, 2009