▪ I. snoot, n.
(snuːt)
[dial. var. snout n.1]
1. = snout n.1 2. dial. and slang.
| 1861 J. Barr Poems 33 Like harrow teeth they're stickin' out, To catch the dirt below their snoot. 1866 Galaxy 1 Oct. 277, I had supposed that such phrases as ‘I'll mash your head!’ ‘I'll bash you on the snoot!’ ‘I'll mawl yer jaws,’ and similar expressive threats, were invented in the New World. 1884 E. W. Nye Baled Hay 209 Read our..‘Ode to the Busted Snoot of a Shattered Venus de Milo’. 1905 G. H. Lorimer Old Gorgon Graham 220 Just as he got good and ready to strike, I pasted him one in the snoot. 1924 Wodehouse Bill the Conqueror v. 101 He seethed with generous indignation and even went so far as to state his intention..of busting the fellow one on the snoot. 1938 D. Runyon Furthermore v. 86 A bust in the snoot. 1956 D. M. Davin Sullen Bell ii. iv. 136 At first I was all for poking the bloke in the snoot. 1971 J. Aiken Nightly Deadshade iii. 33 Snell is sticking his long snoot into the middle of things. |
2. The nose of an aircraft, esp. of adjustable construction (cf. droop-snoot s.v. droop n. 3). Also, the nose of a car, etc.
| 1945, etc. [see droop-snoot s.v. droop n. 3]. 1962 New Scientist 18 Jan. 135/1 As the flaps are depressed, so the snoot is tilted downwards until at full flaps it is depressed at an angle of 35°. 1977 Drive Mar.–Apr. 52/3 Drivers are in a poor position to judge the droop-snoot of the car. 1980 A. Coppel Hastings Conspiracy iv. 32 Through the open door of the flight-deck Brede could see that the snoot had been lowered for better visibility. |
3. A tubular or conical attachment used to produce a narrow beam from a spotlight.
| 1952 Cinema 7 Jan. 108/1 (Advt.), Viking Films Ltd... Lighting equipment... Spots... Cans, bashers, overhead banks, snoots, barndoors, diffusers, niggers, etc. 1972 Quick & La Bau Handbk. Film Production xi. 73 Snoots consist of metal tubes that are mounted on the front of spotlights to control the spread of their beams. 1977 J. Hedgecoe Photographer's Handbk. 34 Spotlight accessories include folding barn-doors..and conical snoots..both of which restrict the beam. |
Add: 4. [Prob. a back-formation from snooty a.] One who is snooty; a snob. Also occas., snootiness. colloq.
| 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 68 Snoot, a disagreeable person. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §402/3 Snob,..snoot. 1971 D. O'Connor Eye of Eagle iv. 26 He was no snoot, yet he had kept me at a distance. 1977 S. L. Elliott Water under Bridge 15 Those Melbourne snoots..look down their noses at us Sydneyites. 1984 Washington Post 4 Apr. b4/1 The emphasis is on fashion and manners; the sensibility part British snoot, part Gothamite chicquer-than-thou. 1989 Sunday Times 14 May g5/1 Val.., tumbling hair and champagne glass in hand, mingles with these snoots at publishers' parties. |
▪ II. snoot, v. U.S.
[f. prec.]
1. intr. = nose v. 8 b; = snout v. 2. (In quot. fig.) U.S. dial. rare.
| 1890 Dialect Notes I. 75 Snoot (snût), of the human face or nose, apparently the same word as snout. A vulgar word in New England. ‘I'll bu'st your snoot’; ‘hit him on the snoot’. As a verb in ‘to snoot round’, i.e. to nose around, it is reported from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. |
2. trans. To snub; to treat scornfully or with disdain. U.S.
| 1928 E. Hatch Couple of Quick Ones iv. 198, I followed him..up the street to where the Wright limousine was snooting the world in general at the kerb. 1939 J. P. Marquand Wickford Point xi. 124 Don't try to snoot Sue Jaeckel. 1959 V. Packard Status Seekers iii. 44 Many intellectuals..develop their own ways of snooting. 1977 Time 17 Jan. 28/3 Cinderella (Gemma Craven) gets snooted by her Stepsisters and gazes sorrowfully into the flames of the scullery fire. |