Chiefly Sc. and north. dial. Forms: α. 4–5 snekke, 5 snekk, 5–7, 9 snek, 5–6 sneke; 6– sneck, 7 snecke; 7, 9 snack; 8 snake. β. 8– snick. [Of obscure origin: cf. SNATCH sb. 1.]
1. The latch of a door or gate; the lever that raises the bar of a latch; † a catch (cf. 2 a).
α. 1324. Acc. Exch., K. R. Bd. 165 No. 1 m. 4, Pro xxviij snekkes cum xxviij stapulis ad tenendum trendles ligni pro springaldis tendendis.
1419. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 147. Et in j snek ad ostium pulpiti, 1d.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 461/2. Snekke, or latche, clitorium, pessulum.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiii. 306. Mak. Good wyff, open the hek!… Vxor. I may thole the dray the snek.
1530. Palsgr., 272/1. Sneke, latche, locquet, clicquette.
1560. Extr. Burgh Rec. Peebles (1872), 258. To vphald substantiousle thair portis in … stapillis, snekkis and all irne graith necessare.
1600. Churchw. Acc. Pittington, etc. (Surtees), 133. For mending the North church gate, and also an iron sneck. Ibid. (1638), 302. A snecke for the ministers sette.
c. 1725. in J. J. Vernon, Parish of Hawick (1900), 80. Paid for 2 Snecks for Quire doore.
1770. Bp. Forbes, Jrnl. (1886), 303. Any one, by Night or by Day, can lift the Sneck and come in.
1781–. in many dial. glossaries and texts (Sc., N. Ir., N. Cy., E. Ang., Derby, Warw., etc.).
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxxiii. The sneck was drawn, and the Countess … entered my dwelling.
1853. G. J. Cayley, Las Alforjas, II. 216. Sometimes the demons will undo the sneck of the gate.
1885. J. Runciman, Skippers & Shellbacks, 50. The old man lifted the ‘sneck’ quickly and caught us.
β. 1786. Burns, The Vision, vii. When click! the string the snick did draw.
1885. A. Munro, Siren Casket, 169. He raised the snick Of Allan’s cottage door.
b. To draw a sneck, to act cunningly or stealthily.
a. 1500. in Ratis Raving, etc. 89. Thar word is fyrst in awdiens, With fenȝeand falsat ay reddy To draw a snek rycht subtely.
1786. Burns, To G. Hamilton, iii. I ken he weel a Snick can draw, When simple bodies let him.
c. On the sneck, latched. So off the sneck.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, xxviii. I’se warrant it a twa-handed ghaist, and the door left on the sneck.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, xv. 167. The door was on the sneck that day.
1897. Crockett, Lads’ Love, iv. 43. Then … leave the lang window o’ the ben room off the sneck, after the lairds are awa’.
2. techn. a. A catch or device for holding the lever of a spinning-machine.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 426. When in geer they [i.e., levers] are held firm by the sneck. Ibid. The machine is put in motion by raising the main lever into the sneck by hand.
b. (See quot.)
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 229. Snecks.… Appliances for diverting wagons from the main line into a siding.
3. dial. or techn. in various senses (see quots.).
1810. S. Smith, Agric. Surv. Galloway, 86, note. Besides the improvement of locked tops [in stone walls], he invented also snecks or hudds, i. e. spaces built single at short intervals.
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., Sneck, a small piece or tongue of land, abutting on or intersecting an adjoining field.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 229. Sneck.… A carving [= air-way].
4. attrib., as sneck-fastening, -lock; sneck-band (see quot. 1828); sneck-bend, a form of fish-hook (see quots.); sneck posset, a cold reception or greeting; a discharge or dismissal; sneck-string, a sneck-band.
The Eng. Dial. Dict. contains a number of other examples.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 733. Hec mastiga, a *snek-bank [? read -band]. Hic gumfus, a dorbande.
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., Sneck-band, the string fastened to the latch, and passed through a hole to the outside of the door.
1855. Waugh, Life & Local., 106. The door is still opened from without by a ‘sneck-bant.’
1816. Bainbridge, Fly Fisher’s Guide, 31. The *Sneckbend, as it is commonly called, diverges from the parallel lines from the bend upwards.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Rural Sports, I. V. ii. 235. Many Scotchmen use what is called the sneckbend, differing slightly from both of the above [hooks], in being made of a more square shape.
1844. H. Stephens, Book of Farm, I. 204. 10 Pairs of crooks and bands for feeding-holes. 10 *Sneck fastenings for ditto.
1570. Wills & Inv. (Surtees, 1835), 312. I do geve vnto An Jaxssonn one woode Cheast which haithe a *sneck locke.
1876. J. Richardson, Cumbld. Talk, Ser. II. 65. A *sneck posset I gat.
1885. Hall Caine, Shadow Crime, 8. He had his own reasons for not quitting Wythburn after he had received his very unequivocal ‘sneck posset.’
1758. W. Reckitt, Jrnl. (1776), 78. They did not so much as pull in their *sneck-string when they went to bed, and had neither lock nor bar.
