English Dictionary |
SNUFF OUT
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
IPA (US): |
Dictionary entry overview: What does snuff out mean?
• SNUFF OUT (verb)
The verb SNUFF OUT has 2 senses:
2. put out, as of fires, flames, or lights
Familiarity information: SNUFF OUT used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
Sense 1
Meaning:
Put an end to; kill
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Synonyms:
extinguish; snuff out
Context example:
The Nazis snuffed out the life of many Jewish children
Hypernyms (to "snuff out" is one way to...):
do away with; eliminate; extinguish; get rid of (terminate, end, or take out)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "snuff out"):
stamp (destroy or extinguish as if by stamping with the foot)
put out; smother (deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Derivation:
snuffer (a cone-shaped implement with a handle; for extinguishing candles)
snuffer (a person who snuffs out candles)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Put out, as of fires, flames, or lights
Classified under:
Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering
Synonyms:
blow out; extinguish; quench; snuff out
Context example:
snuff out the candles
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "snuff out"):
stub (extinguish by crushing)
douse; put out (put out, as of a candle or a light)
black out (obliterate or extinguish)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Context examples
I laughed heartily at my own jokes, and everybody else's; called Steerforth to order for not passing the wine; made several engagements to go to Oxford; announced that I meant to have a dinner-party exactly like that, once a week, until further notice; and madly took so much snuff out of Grainger's box, that I was obliged to go into the pantry, and have a private fit of sneezing ten minutes long.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Learn English with... Proverbs |
"From whence comes the word, comes the soul." (Albanian proverb)
"Measure your quilt, then stretch your legs." (Arabic proverb)
"Clothes make the man." (Dutch proverb)