[f. SNIFF v.] The action of the vb.; an instance of this, a sniff.
1575. Turberv., Faulconrie, 231. You may rubbe … the pallate of your Hawke with the saide powder, and not feede hir after it, vntill such tyme she haue lefte snyting and sniffing.
1842. Thackeray, Fitz-Boodle’s Conf., Wks. 1869, XXII. 229. People looking and making a strange nasal noise (it is called sniffing).
1872. Huxley, Physiol., iv. 90. ‘Sniffing’ is a more rapid inspiratory act, in which the mouth is kept shut, and the air made to pass through the nose.
1893. Selous, Trav. S. E. Africa, 421. Sometimes these sniffings were very loud.
attrib. 1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 870. Obstructive diseases of the nose … occasion sniffing movements of the face.
