▪ I. sneeze, n.
(sniːz)
[f. the vb.]
1. A powder or preparation for inducing sneezing; snuff. Obs. exc. north. dial.
| 1632 tr. Bruel's Praxis Med. 7 A sneeze of bastard Pellitory, Pepper. c 1746– [see b]. a 1800 in Pegge Suppl. Grose. 1857– in Lanc. dial. (Eng. Dial. Dict.). |
2. An act of sneezing; a sudden and involuntary expiration of breath through the nose and mouth, accompanied by a characteristic sound.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. ix. 199 Upon a sneeze of the Emperour of Monomotapa, there passed acclamations successively through the city. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 458 As inconsiderable, And harmless, if not wholsom, as a sneeze To mans less universe. 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. iv, The little boy on the top of the trunk gave a violent sneeze. 1874 Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. i. (1879) 17 Whilst the act of coughing can be excited by a mandate of the will,..we can⁓not thus execute a true sneeze. |
3. attrib. (sense 1), as sneeze-box, sneeze-horn, sneeze-lurker (see quots.); sneeze gas, a substance used to incapacitate people by causing them to sneeze when it is inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
| c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. (1775) 40 [Sneeze-horn]. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Sneeze-horn or Sneesh-horn, a common sort of snuff-box, made of cow's horn. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xliii, To think of..the Artful Dodger going abroad for a common twopenny-halfpenny sneeze-box! 1864 Slang Dict., Sneeze-lurker, one who throws snuff in a person's face and then robs him. 1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 567 Sneeze-gas, a gas which produces paroxysms of sneezing, so that it is difficult to keep on a mask if any of the gas is inhaled. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 45/1 Sternutators, sometimes called sneeze gases or vomiting gases, cause physical discomfort.., and general malaise to such an extent that a casualty results. |
▪ II. sneeze, v.
(sniːz)
Forms: 5 snese, 6–8 sneese (6 scniese), 6– sneeze, 7 sneez.
[app. an alteration of fnese v., due to misreading or misprinting it as ‘ſnese’, after the initial combination fn- had become unfamiliar.
Fnese had app. gone out of use early in the 15th cent., its place being mainly supplied by nese neeze v. The adoption of sneeze was probably assisted by its phonetic appropriateness; it may have been felt as a strengthened form of neeze.
In the following places where sn- is printed in modern editions the correct reading is fn-:—Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 389; Chaucer Manciple's Prol. 62 (Camb. MS. G g 4. 27); Lanfranc's Cirurg. 197; Caxton's Trevisa (Rolls) V. 389 footnote; Caxton Golden Leg., Litanies (= fol. xxii/1 of ed. 1483). See also the variants in the quots. below.]
1. a. intr. To drive or emit air or breath suddenly through the nose and mouth by an involuntary and convulsive or spasmodic action, accompanied by a characteristic sound.
In quot. 1493 = to snort.
| 1493 Festivall (W. de W.) 108 b, Whan he herde ony man speke of theym anone for grete angre he wolde snese [1483 Caxton fnese] at the nose. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxxviii. 625 Yf it [sc. cummin] is..blowen in to the nosethrilles,..it makith a man snese [Bodl. MS. fnese]. 1540 R. Jonas Byrth Mankynde 30 b, Let her be prouoked to sneese with the pouder of eleborus or pepper. 1570 Levins Manip. 211 To Sneeze, sternutare. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xvii. 44 b, To spit or to scniese. 1601 Holland Pliny xxviii. ii. II. 297 If one chaunce to sneese after repast. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 403 One custom which prevails generally in foreign countreys..is to salute those that sneez. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 35 ¶3 Being unused to Snuff, some Grains from off her upper Lip made him sneeze aloud. 1753 Scots Mag. Nov. 544/2 They bowed with a graceful simper to a lady who sneezed. 1849 Lytton Caxtons 61 You certainly have caught cold; you sneezed three times together. 1872 Geo. Eliot Middlem. lxii, There are conditions under which the most majestic person is obliged to sneeze. |
b. refl. To bring (oneself) into a certain state by sneezing.
| 1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. vii. (1702) 268 By how much it is more Honorable to Dye upon a Swords-point..than for a Man to snivel and sneeze himself into another World. |
2. colloq. With at: To regard as of little value, worth, or consideration; to despise, disregard, underrate. Chiefly in the negative phrase not to be sneezed at.
| (a) 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. II. 90 It's a sort of thing a young fellow of my expectations ought to sneeze at. 1838 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. B. Maguire's Acc. Coronation viii, If any bould traitour..Sneezes at that, I'd like to see the man! 1902 Daily Chron. 12 June 9/3 Supposing this fire had occurred in Hackney,..it would have been ‘sneezed’ at, if I may so put it. |
| (b) 1813 Scott 24 Aug. in Lockhart, As I am situated, {pstlg}300 or {pstlg}400 a-year is not to be sneezed at. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack l, She was a prize ‘not to be sneezed at’. 1891 N. Gould Double Event 82 A thousand pounds..was not a thing to be sneezed at. |
3. trans. To eject or cast by sneezing.
| 1677 Johnson in Ray's Corr. (1848) 128 Horsemen are not agreed what that is the foal is said to sneeze, which they call a milt. 1930 R. Campbell Adamastor 76 Their horses..Vast phantom shapes with eyeballs rolling white That sneeze a fiery steam about their knees. 1961 G. Durrell Whispering Land viii. 194 Anyway, when I had sneezed some of the dust out of my nose, I clapped dutifully outside the gate. |
4. To utter with a sneeze. Also with out.
The allusion in the first quot. is to Catullus xlv. 9–10.
| 1851 Tennyson E. Morris 80 Shall not Love to me, As in the Latin song I learnt at school, Sneeze out a full God-bless-you, right and left? 1873 Ld. Houghton Monogr. 260 The preacher..at once sneezed out the name Ker-shaw several times in various intonations. |
Hence ˈsneezing ppl. a.
| 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. i. i. 22 Swift as the levin from the sneezing skie. |