Also 5 snarre, 6–7 Sc. snair, 6 snayre. [f. SNARE sb. Cf. Norw. snara; MSw. snäria (Sw. snärja), MDa. snerie, snerge (Da. snære), in similar senses.]
1. trans. To capture (small wild animals, birds, etc.) in a snare; to catch by entangling.
1388. Wyclif, Isaiah xxviii. 13. That thei … falle backward, and be al to-brokun, and be snarid, and be takun.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 461/2. Snaryn, or snarlyn, illaqueo.
1530. Palsgr., 723/2. I snare, I caiche in a snare, je prens au las.
1548. Elyot, Laqueus, an halter, any thynge that one is snared or intangled in.
1570. Levins, Manip., 202/44. To Snayre, illaqueare.
1610. Shaks., Temp., II. ii. 174. I … will … show thee a Iayes nest, and instruct thee how to snare the nimble Marmazet.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 365. To fire the Brambles, snare the Birds.
1781. Cowper, Retirement, 401. To carve his rustic name upon a tree, To snare the mole.
1832. Lytton, Eugene A., III. iii. I should not be surprised if you snared one of Squire Nixon’s hares by the way.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 422–3. The cultivated portions … swarm with quails, vast numbers of which are snared in nets by the natives.
absol. 1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., I. 813. He poach’d the wood, and on the warren snared.
1864. [H. W. Wheelwright], Spring in Lapl., 144. Immediately around Quickiock, where every one shoots and snares just as he pleases, the game is, of course, as a natural consequence kept down.
b. fig. To entangle, entrap.
1401. Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 55. Cauteles and sleiȝtes, ech intrikid in other, to snarre symple soules.
c. 1430. Life St. Katherine (Roxb.), 31. I se wel þat þou woldest wyth þy venoms sotyltees snare vs.
1535. Coverdale, Exod. x. 7. How longe shall we be snared after this maner?
1567. Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.), 216. Be thow not snairde in Venus snair.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle (1871), 38. Cast downe thy looke, Least prides bait snare thee on the devils hooke.
1642. D. Rogers, Naaman, 16. Those ten tribes were justly shared by Jeroboams calves.
1810. Scott, Lady of Lake, II. xxviii. Themselves in bloody toils were snared.
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 780. Who wove coarse webs to snare her purity.
refl. c. 1550. Coverdale, Fruitful Lessons (1593), O iij. Who so goeth about to bind the truth, dooth knitte and snare himselfe with vnlowsable bands.
16[?]. Sir W. Mure, Sonn. to Margareit, iv. Alace!… To snair myselfe in hope to be reliued.
1642. D. Rogers, Naaman, 26. Adore it, but snare not thyselfe with it.
2. Surg. and Path. To catch in a loop, esp. in order to remove; to cut off with a snare.
1884. M. Mackenzie, Dis. Throat & Nose, II. 355. An instrument for snaring nasal polypi.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., III. 794. A peritoneal adhesion by which a loop of bowel is snared and acutely strangulated.
Hence Snared ppl. a.; Snaring vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 461/2. Snarynge, or snarlynge, illaqueacio.
a. 1586. Sidney, Ps. XVIII. ii. To my snaring grave to goe.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Enlazamiento, intangling, snaring.
1605. Earl Stirling, Alexandr. Trag., II. Chor., Then snaring laws did not extend The bounds of Reason.
1640. T. Carew, Willing Prisoner, ii. Her murdring glances, snaring haires,… so please me.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. III. v. Driven mad like the snared lion.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil (1863), 60. Meditating the snaring of a hare.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 899. The artificial snaring of tumours.
Snare, variant of SNATH(E v. dial.
