SNUFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does snuff mean? 

• SNUFF (noun)
  The noun SNUFF has 4 senses:

1. the charred portion of a candlewick

2. a pinch of smokeless tobacco inhaled at a single time

3. finely powdered tobacco for sniffing up the nose

4. sensing an odor by inhaling through the nose

  Familiarity information: SNUFF used as a noun is uncommon.

• SNUFF (adjective)
  The adjective SNUFF has 1 sense:

1. snuff colored; of a greyish to yellowish brown

  Familiarity information: SNUFF used as an adjective is very rare.

• SNUFF (verb)
  The verb SNUFF has 2 senses:

1. sniff or smell inquiringly

2. inhale (something) through the nose

  Familiarity information: SNUFF used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SNUFF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The charred portion of a candlewick

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("snuff" is a kind of...):

char (a charred substance)

Holonyms ("snuff" is a part of...):

candlewick (the wick of a candle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A pinch of smokeless tobacco inhaled at a single time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("snuff" is a kind of...):

hint; jot; mite; pinch; soupcon; speck; tinge; touch (a slight but appreciable amount)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Finely powdered tobacco for sniffing up the nose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("snuff" is a kind of...):

baccy; tobacco (leaves of the tobacco plant dried and prepared for smoking or ingestion)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "snuff"):

rappee (strong snuff made from dark coarse tobacco)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Sensing an odor by inhaling through the nose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

sniff; snuff

Hypernyms ("snuff" is a kind of...):

smell; smelling (the act of perceiving the odor of something)

Derivation:

snuff (inhale (something) through the nose)

snuff (sniff or smell inquiringly)

• SNUFF (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Snuff colored; of a greyish to yellowish brown

Synonyms:

chukker-brown; mummy-brown; snuff; snuff-brown

Similar:

chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)

• SNUFF (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they snuff    ... he / she / it snuffs   
Past simple: snuffed   
Past participle: snuffed   
-ing form: snuffing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Sniff or smell inquiringly

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

snuff; snuffle

Hypernyms (to "snuff" is one way to...):

smell (inhale the odor of; perceive by the olfactory sense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

snuff (sensing an odor by inhaling through the nose)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Inhale (something) through the nose

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

snuff coke

Hypernyms (to "snuff" is one way to...):

breathe in; inhale; inspire (draw in (air))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

snuff (sensing an odor by inhaling through the nose)

 Context examples 

They're wittles and drink to me—lodging, wife, and children—reading, writing, and Arithmetic—snuff, tobacker, and sleep.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He always rises at six in the evening, and he has laid down the finest cellar of snuff in Europe.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was so like it that I went forward and said—"Pilot" and the thing got up and came to me and snuffed me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mycroft took snuff from a tortoise-shell box, and brushed away the wandering grains from his coat front with a large, red silk handkerchief.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Take a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over you in your example.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now as the king to whom the wood belonged was hunting in it, his dogs came to the tree, and began to snuff about, and run round and round, and bark.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Alas! It was snuffed and extinguished in one.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

"Ha, ha! Never say die, take a pinch of snuff, goodbye, goodbye!" squalled Polly, dancing on her perch, and clawing at the old lady's cap as Laurie tweaked him in the rear.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Hans stepped back to the table and mechanically snuffed the candle.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Look here all around you in what airt ye will; all them steans, holdin' up their heads as well as they can out of their pride, is acant—simply tumblin' down with the weight o' the lies wrote on them, 'Here lies the body' or 'Sacred to the memory' wrote on all of them, an' yet in nigh half of them there bean't no bodies at all; an' the memories of them bean't cared a pinch of snuff about, much less sacred.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)