snipe

Meaning

1. Any of various limicoline game birds of the genera Gallinago, Lymnocryptes and Coenocorypha in the family Scolopacidae, having a long, slender, nearly straight beak.
2. A fool; a blockhead.
3. A shot fired from a concealed place.
4. A member of the engineering department on a ship.
5. A goal.
6. To hunt snipe.
7. To shoot at individuals from a concealed place.
8. To shoot with a sniper rifle.
9. To watch a timed online auction and place a winning bid against (the current high bidder) at the last possible moment.
10. To nose (a log) to make it drag or slip easily in skidding.
11. To score a goal.
12. To move the ball quickly in a different direction.
13. A cigarette butt.
14. An end of a log remaining after timber has been cut away.
15. An animated promotional logo during a television show.
16. A strip of copy announcing some late breaking news or item of interest, typically placed in a print advertisement in such a way that it stands out from the ad.
17. A bottle of wine measuring 0.1875 liters, one fourth the volume of a standard bottle; a quarter bottle or piccolo.
18. A sharp, clever answer; sarcasm.
19. A note or sticker attached to an existing poster to provide further information (e.g. an event is sold out, political criticism, etc.).
20. To make malicious, underhand remarks or attacks.
21. To attach a note or sticker to (an existing poster) to provide further information, political criticism, etc.
22. A surname.

Etymology / origin

From Middle English snipe, snype (a type of bird), from Old Norse snípa, as in mýrisnípa (“moor snipe”). Akin to Norwegian snipe. The verb originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India where a hunter skilled enough to kill the elusive snipe was dubbed a "sniper". The term sniper was first attested in 1824 in the sense of the word "sharpshooter".

Related words

Descendant words

• sneip(Norwegian Nynorsk) (bor)
• snipe(Norwegian Nynorsk) (cog)

Sources

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