[f. SNIFFLE v.]
1. The sniffles, the snuffles. Also U.S. slang, a fit of low spirits.
1825. Jamieson, Suppl., Sniffles, that difficulty of breathing through the nostrils, which is caused by cold in the head.
1903. A. Adams, Log Cowboy, xviii. 279. I hope you won’t get the sniffles and tell any [sc. gloomy tales].
2. An act of sniffling; a slight snivel or snuffle.
1880. G. Meredith, Trag. Com. (1881), 195. ‘You have been a little weak,’ the phantom said to her, and she acquiesced with a soft sniffle.
1885. Martineau, Types Eth. Th. (1886), II. I. v. 174. A curve in the nose, a colour of the hair, a sniffle in the voice.
