▪ I. snath, n. Chiefly dial. and U.S.
(snæθ)
Forms: α. 6 snythe, 9 snithe. β. 7– snathe, 9 snaythe, snaith. γ. 8– sneath, 9 sne(a)the, sneeth. δ. 8– snath.
[Variant of snead n., but all the forms are irregular and difficult to account for.]
The pole or shaft of a scythe.
| α 1574 R. Scot Hop Garden (1578) 28 Thys helue shoulde boowe somewhat lyke to a Snythe, or to the steale of a Sythe. 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v. Snathe, Snithe, the crooked handle or long shank of a mowing scythe. |
| β 1691 Ray S. & E.C. Words 114 A Snathe, the handle of a Sithe. 1848 Bartlett Dict. Amer. 317 Snathe. 1888 Addy Sheffield Gloss. 224 Snaith or Snathe. 1899 Dickinson & Prevost Cumbld. Gloss. 301/2 Snaythe. |
| γ 1704 Dict. Rust. (1726) s.v. Snead, Sneath, the handle of a Scithe, or the like Tool. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 849 The handle, or sned or sneath,..is made either curved..or straight. 1866 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. 314 No Sithe could be handled without its pole or shaft or sneath or sned. 1907 ‘J. Halsham’ Lonewood Corner 150 The two ‘doles’ or grips on the sneath. |
| δ 1782 J. Scott Amœb. Ecl. ii. Poet. Wks. 119 There crooked snaths of flexile sallow make. 1839 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 231/1 An improvement in the Scythe Snath. 1864 Whittier Wreck Rivermouth 89 O mower, lean on thy bended snath. 1881 Metal World No. 22. 343 Suppose the centre of gravity of the snath be..4 in. from the body of the snath. |
▪ II. snath(e, v. dial.
Also 7 sneath, 7, 9 snare, 8 snaze (?).
[app. ad. ON. sneiða (Norw. sneida; MSw. snetha) to cut, slice; but the sense is more precisely that of OE. snǽdan sned v.]
trans. To prune or lop (trees, etc.); to remove by lopping. Hence ˈsnathing vbl. n.; also attrib.
| 1485 Nottingham Rec. III. 230 For snathing of treez. Ibid., For makyng of a m{supl}cccc. xl. kyddez of oke of þe seid snathinges. 1609 Burgery of Sheffield 312 A payne laid that every person do snath and brush ther hedges. 1641 H. Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 121 Yow are to snath off all the small twigges and boughes. Ibid., Hee hayth for this purpose a little broad snathinge axe. 1691 Ray N.C. Words 65 To Snathe or snare, to prune Trees, to cut off the Boughs of Ash or other Timber trees. 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss. 96 Snaze, clip an hedge. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Snathe, to prune, to lop. 1866 J. E. Brogden Prov. Lincs., Snare, to cut large boughs off a tree. |