Naut. [Of obscure origin: cf. SNORTER2.] (See quots.)
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v. Sprit, The lower end of the sprit rests in a sort of wreath or collar called the snotter, which encircles the mast in that place.
1815. Burney, Falconer’s Dict. Marine, 487/2. Snotter,… a short rope spliced together at the ends, and served with spun-yarn, or covered with hide.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 288. Snotter, a rope going over a yard-arm with an eye forming a becket to bend a tripping-line to, in sending down topgallant and royal yards.
1894. A. J. Kenealy, in Outing, XXIV. 149/2. The upper end fits into a cringle or eye in the peak of the sail and the lower end into a snotter on the mast.
