[f. SNAP v. Cf. Fris., Du., LG. snapper, G. schnapper.]
† 1. Cant. ? An accomplice or sharer. (Cf. SNAP v. 3 a). Obs.
1532. Use of Dice Play (Percy Soc.), 29. This new nurtured novice … is become so good a scholar, that he knoweth readily his flats and barris, and hath been snapper with the old cole at 2 or 3 deep strokes.
2. A thing that snaps or produces a sharp cracking sound: a. A pistol. rare.
1577–87. Harrison, England, II. xvi. (1877), I. 283. The honest traueller is now inforced to ride with a case of dags…, or with some pretie short snapper, whereby he may deale with them further off in his owne defense.
1785. in Grose, Dict. Vulgar Tongue.
b. pl. Bones (see BONE sb. 5 b); castanets. ? Obs.
1605. Entert. of Earl Nottingham, 18. Those six Ladies … danced a country dance with snappers on their thumbs.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 172. The instruments [of music] no other than snappers, gingles, and round-bottomd drums.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. I. 84. They hold them both in the right hand … as our Boys do their Snappers.
1705. trans. Bosman’s Guinea, 268. Like two pieces of Wood stroke against each other, or a pair of Snappers.
1742. C. Owen, Serpents, III. vi. 239. Whether this Custom be not the Original of Castanets or Snappers in Dancing.
† c. pl. Prince Rupert’s drops. Obs.–0
1788. Howard, New Roy. Cycl., II. 1738.
d. A cracker-bonbon.
a. 1845. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. III. Wedding-day (1905), 428. Nasty French lucifer snappers with mottoes.
e. U.S. A word, sentence, verse, etc., used as a finishing touch or wind-up.
App. transf. from next, though recorded earlier.
1857. J. G. Holland, Bay Path, xiv. You’d ’a said twenty lashes, and she’d got ’em, and Mr. Moxon would ’a said twenty Amens on the end on ’em for a snapper.
1892. Child, Pop. Ballads, IV. 393/1. A copy … with the addition of one stanza for a ‘snapper.’
f. U.S. A cracker on the end of a whip-lash. Also fig., a sharp or caustic remark.
1882. G. F. Pentecost, Out of Egypt, iii. 60. She brought out the last end of that question like the snapper on the end of a whip.
1890. O. W. Holmes, Over the Teacups, xii. if I had not put that snapper on the end of my whip-lash, I might have got off without the ill temper which my antithesis provoked.
3. One who snaps up or seizes upon a thing quickly.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iii. 26. My Father … was likewise a snapper-vp of vnconsidered trifles.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxvi. The possibility of those erratic Countesses of Croye … falling into the hands of some wild snapper upon the frontiers.
1887. Jefferies, Amaryllis, x. From Berlin and Vienna come the eager snappers-up of much considered trifles.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 3 March, 11/1. The snapper-up of such things should glance at the Mexican Eastern Railway 5 per cent. debentures.
4. A snappish person; one who speaks or answers snappishly or roughly.
1648. Hexham, II. Een Versnauwer, a Snapper, or a Taunter.
1847. Halliw., Snappers, waspish persons that answer crossly or peevishly.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., li. What a nasty way you have of telling the very commonest piece of news!… What man will ever fancy you, you unlucky little snapper?
1908. W. Churchill, in Daily Telegr., 17 Aug., 6/2. But we are told that, though these mischief-makers, these snappers and snarlers, may be few, yet they are very influential.
5. † a. Angling. A snap-hook or snap-rod. Obs.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 103/1. A Snapper, or Snap Rod, is a strong Pole, peculiar for a Pike. Ibid., xvi. (Roxb.), 80/1. This is by some termed a cod fish hooke; but by Fishers and Anglers it is termed a Snapper, being made with a loop at the top.
b. local. (See quot.)
1892. T. Southwell, in Longm. Mag., Nov., 83. Some of the men were armed with long wooden ‘snappers,’ not unlike blacksmith’s tongs, the grasping portion being thickly set with wire points or projecting nails;… and with these cruel implements they struck at and secured the stupefied fish [= eels].
6. a. One or other of various fishes, esp. the West Indian Lutjanus Blackfordii or L. vivanus or other fish of this group, the N. American rose-fish, Sebastes marinus, and the Australian Pagrus unicolor (see quots. and b).
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1699), 88. Fish, particularly Snappers and Rock-fish, are … plentiful. Ibid., 91. The Snapper is a Fish much like a Roach, but a great deal bigger,… the back is of a bright red.
1712. E. Cooke, Voy. S. Sea, 114. Silver Fish, Snappers, Bonito’s and very large Craw-fish.
1772–84. Cook’s Voy. (1790), IV. 1370. There are also snappers, parrot-fish, and a brown spotted rock-fish.
a. 1818. M. G. Lewis, Jrnl. W. Ind. (1834), 104. Nothing can be less tempting than the sounds of Jew-fish, hog-fish, mud-fish, snappers,… and grunts.
1840. F. D. Bennett, Whaling Voy., I. 23. They were chiefly of the kinds known as ‘rock-cod,’ ‘snappers,’ or gilt-heads.
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 73. The Snappers and Grunts are among the most highly colored of the tropical fishes.
attrib. and Comb. 1884. Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 395. The Snapper Family—Pristipomatidæ. Ibid. (1888), Amer. Fishes, 76. Snapper-fishing is usually carried on with a bottom bait. Ibid. A trip to the Snapper banks is a favorite summer recreation.
b. With distinctive epithets, as alligator, bastard, black, brown, grey snapper, etc.
Many different species are mentioned by Goode Fishes Bermudas (1876), Nat. Hist. Aquatic Anim. (1884), and American Fishes (1888).
1775. Romans, Hist. Florida, App. 52. The fish caught here … are such as … red, grey and black snappers, dog snappers, mutton-fish.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), I. 241. Fishes of a few other kinds, as … gray-snapper (coracinus fuscus major).
1827. O. W. Roberts, Voy. Centr. Amer., 34. They … soon caught plenty of groupers, red and silver snappers.
1833. M. Scott, Tom Cringle, xv. (1859), 365. A red snapper for all the world like a gigantic gold fish was hauled on board.
1885. C. F. Holder, Marvels Anim. Life, 176. Snappers, red and brown.
c. A snapping-turtle.
1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 388. The Snapping Turtle…, also called simply Snapper, is a ferocious kind, snapping at everything, and inflicting a painful bite.
c. 1880. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., IV. 255. One of these aquatic Emydes … preys upon small fish, and is called Temminck’s Snapper.
1888. Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 458/2. The family of Chelydridæ includes freshwater tortoises, which are known under the names of Snappers or Alligator Terrapins.
d. A woodpecker (Halliwell, 1847).
e. U.S. A flysnapper (Cent. Dict., 1891).
7. dial. Something exceptionally large, heavy, etc.
1874. T. Hardy, Far fr. Mad. Crowd, xv. We get a fine day, and then down comes a snapper [of rain] at night.
1902. Ardrossan Herald, 3 Jan., 4. That’s a snapper o’ an orange they’ve gi’en ye.
8. dial. a. The greater stitchwort, Stellaria Holostea. b. The bladder campion, Silene inflata.
1882. in Friend, Gloss. Dev. Plant-n.
1886. in Britten & Holland.
