[prob. ad. Du. and Flem. snuf or snuif (WFris. snuf) in the same sense, app. an abbreviation of snuiftabak (cf. LG. snuvtobak, G. schnupftabak, for which Swiss dial. has schnupf, schnopf): cf. prec. and SNUFF v.2]
1. A preparation of powdered tobacco for inhaling through the nostrils.
The practice of taking snuff appears to have become fashionable about 1680, but prevailed earlier in Ireland and Scotland (see SMUTCHIN and SNEEZING vbl. sb. 2 b).
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1800/4. James Norcock, Snuffmaker and Perfumer,… sells all sorts of Snuffs, Spanish and Italian. Ibid. (1703), No. 3963/3. Tobacco at 2d. per lb. Snuff 4d. 2q. per lb.
1724. Swift, Reasons agst. Exam. Drugs, Wks. 1755, III. I. 127. The makers of snuff, who … employ by far the greatest number of hands of any manufacture of the kingdom.
1796. Mme. D’Arblay, Camilla, III. 142. She perceived him, a few yards off, taking a pinch of snuff.
1815. Elphinstone, Acc. Caubul (1842), I. 307. Their snuff is a dry and fine powder like Scotch snuff.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., ii. He took snuff with everybody.
1884. F. M. Crawford, Rom. Singer, I. 23. Ercole takes snuff when he is not smoking.
transf. 1709. Brit. Apollo, No. 4. 4/2. A Most Excellent Cephalick Water, or Liquid Snuff.
fig. 1719. D’Urfey, Pills, V. 90. A Wench … Gave Snuff to me, Out of her Placket box.
1819. Shelley, Peter Bell 3rd, III. xix. 3. Sometimes the poor are damned indeed To take … Cobbett’s snuff, revenge.
b. Any powder used like snuff, esp. for medical purposes; a sternutatory or errhine. rare.
1861. S. Thomson, Wild Fl., III. (ed. 4), 306. Of one, the sneeze-wort yarrow (Achillea ptarmica), the leaves … are used as a snuff in head affections.
2. A pinch of snuff. [So WFlem. snuuf.]
17[?]. Ramsay, Vision, xxi. Poems 1877, I. 127. Gallus sneerd and tuke a snuff.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., Prol. I will enrich … thy nose with a snuff from my mull.
1863. A. H. Charteris, Life Robertson, x. 308. A snuff between his finger and thumb which he had no time to take.
1897. Pryde, Queer Folk Fife, 87. In his excitement he took four or five snuffs consecutively.
b. Used to denote something of small value.
1809. Donaldson, Poems, 72. My memory, man, ’s no worth a snuff.
1844. W. Cross, Disruption, xviii. I wadna gie a snuff for ony minister but a parish minister.
1881. W. Walker, in Edwards, Mod. Sc. Poets, Ser. III. 106. An’ they’ll care nae a snuff though grim poverty shake ye.
c. A pinch, a very small quantity, of something.
1842. J. Aiton, Domest. Econ., 258. Put a snuff of the carbonate of soda into the broth pot when it first comes to boil.
1883. Cassell’s Bk. Sports & Pastimes, 50. A snuff of sand, or tuft of grass, to give the requisite elevation.
3. In colloquial phrases: a. Up to snuff, knowing, sharp, not easily deceived. Also attrib.
1810. J. Poole, Hamlet Travestie, II. i. 21.
| He’ll not be sounded; he knows well enough | |
| The game we’re after: Zooks, he’s up to snuff. |
1823. Egan, Grose’s Dict. Vulg. T., ‘Up to snuff, and a pinch above it.’
1848. Dickens, Dombey, xxxi. An up-to-snuff old vagabond.
1879. Howells, L. Aroostook, xxii. 240. You American ladies are so—up to snuff, as you say.
b. To beat to snuff, to beat utterly.
1819. Blackw. Mag., V. 638. All other Colleges, thou beat’st to snuff.
c. In high snuff, in high feather; elated.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xvi. The Sandwich-Islanders rode down, and were in ‘high snuff.’
d. To give (one) snuff, to deal sharply or severely with; to punish.
1890. [R. C. Lehmann], Harry Fludyer, 30. He rather gave me snuff about my extravagance.
1896. Baden-Powell, Matabele Campaign, vii. (1897), 192. Then with eager haste … he dashed up the rocks to ‘give the nigger snuff.’
4. attrib. and Comb., as snuff-bottle, -colo(u)r, hand, -handkerchief, -mundungus, -rasp, -shop, -spoon, -stick, -work; obj. and obj. gen., as snuff-grinder, -maker, -manufacturer, -merchant, -taker, -taking, -using; instrumental and parasynthetic, as snuff-clad, -headed, -stained; similative, as snuff-brown. Also SNUFF-BOX, -COLOURED, etc.
1884. Gilmour, Mongols, 90. After *snuff bottles had been exchanged.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., Prol. A new coat (*snuff-brown, and with metal buttons).
1857. Livingstone, Trav., xvii. 319. He had on a snuff-brown coat.
1790. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Elegy to Apollo, Wks. 1812, II. 278. In proud disdain their *snuff-clad noses rise.
1698. Phil. Trans., XX. 461. Down of a dark yellowish *Snuff-Colour.
1883. T. Hardy, in Longman’s Mag., July, 256. Her dress and that of the children were mostly of faded snuff-colour.
1763. Brit. Mag., July, 337/1. He next took up salt with the finger and thumb of his *snuff hand.
1695. Motteux, trans. St. Olon’s Morocco, 65. His Face muffled up in a *Snuff-Handkerchief, of a dirty hue.
[1711. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 4 May. I have been a mighty handkerchief-monger, and have bought abundance of snuff ones since I have left off taking snuff.]
1849. Zoologist, VII. 2393. The pochard is a *‘snuff-headed wigeon.’
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1800/4. *Snuffmaker and Perfumer.
1764. Ann. Reg., 108. A dreadful fire broke out in the workshop of a snuff-maker.
1822. (title) The British Perfumer, *Snuff-Manufacturer, and Colourman’s Guide.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xxxv. My worthy *snuff-merchant.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. II. 1006/151.
| After h’ had ministred a Dose | |
| Of *Snuff-Mundungus, to his Nose. |
1711. Swift, Wks. (1824), II. 407. A fine *snuff-rasp of ivory.
1859. Fairholt, Tobacco (1876), 244. A similar snuff-rasp to this.
1767. S. Paterson, Another Trav., I. 192. I had recruited myself at one of the best *snuff-shops in Bruges.
1802. Edin. Rev., I. 109. Doomed to quiet repose in a snuff-shop.
1892. Rider Haggard, Nada, xx. 166. Watching the two of them over the edge of my *snuff-spoon.
1791. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Magpie & Robin, Wks. 1812, II. 473. With *snuff-stain’d neckcloth.
1879. Tourgee, Fool’s Err. (1883), 43. She had a *snuff-stick in her mouth.
1710. Tatler, No. 141, ¶ 6. The Whetter is obliged to refresh himself every moment with a liquor, as the *Snuff-taker with a powder.
1857. E. B. Ramsay, Reminisc. Scot. Life & C., iii. The inveterate snuff-taker.
1775. Ash, *Snuff-taking, the act or practice of taking snuff.
a. 1797. in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 565. Allowing 16 hours to a snuff-taking day.
1801. Southey, Lett. (1856), I. 174. As I have written a reasoning defence of snuff-taking.
1813. Examiner, 16 May, 318/1. The reader has heard of his inordinate snuff-takings.
1886. Pall Mall Gaz., 10 Aug., 11/3. *Snuff-using … is on the decline.
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. Customs (1821), 259. No Tobacco Stalks or *Snuff-work allowed to be imported on penalty of forfeiture.
5. Special combs.: snuff-bean, the tonka-bean, used for scenting snuff; one of these kept in a snuff-box for this purpose; snuff-dipper U.S. (see quot. 1859); also snuff-dipping; snuffman, a dealer in snuff; snuff-paper (in contemptuous use), bank-notes; snuff-swab U.S. (see quot.).
1898. in Eng. Dial. Dict., s.v., In the corner o’ his mull there aye lay buried a scentit *snuff-bean.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 424. *Snuff-dipper. One who makes a practice of chewing snuff.
1896. Amer. Missionary, Oct., 324. One sister who had been a snuff-dipper for more than twenty years. Ibid. The vile habit of *snuff-dipping.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6195/7. Abraham Carcas,… *Snuffman.
1852. M. W. Savage, R. Medlicott, III. i. The shop of a snuffman of the present day.
1826. Scott, Mal. Malagr., iii. 8. The want of gold, to supply the place of that *snuff-paper of yours.
1872. De Vere, Americanisms, 63. The dipping-stick is also called *snuff-swab.
