[f. SNAP-.]
1. Angling. A device consisting of three or four hooks connected in a special manner.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xxii. (Roxb.), 277/2. The first is termed a Snap Hooke or a Gorge Hooke.
1741. Compl. Fam. Piece, II. ii. 344. Your Snap-hook … should be made thus: Take two Salmon-Hooks…; turn the Hooks back to back, and place the Gimp in the Middle [etc.].
1820. T. F. Salter, Troller’s Guide, 90. Snap hooks, dead or plain, are synonimous terms; meaning all hooks used in Jack fishing that are made without springs.
1839. [see SNAP sb. 13 b].
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, I. V. iii. § 10. 256. The snap-hook is either the plain or the spring snap hook. [Description of several varieties follows.]
2. (See quot. 1875.)
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2229/1. Snap-hook. A hook with a spring mousing by which it is prevented from accidental disengagement.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 9 July, 3/2. A stout leather strap, with a buckle fastening it in front, and snap hooks projecting from each side at the back.
