ˈsnagger
[f. snag v.2 2, 4 c.]
1. dial. (See quot.)
| 1847 Halliw. s.v. Snag, A snagger..is a simple bill-hook without the usual edge on the back. 1877–99 in dial. glossaries (Cumb., Yks.). |
2. Austral. A slow, inexpert, or poor sheep-shearer.
| 1887 Tibb's Popular Songbk. 11, I found a lot of snaggers Not a shearer in the mob. a 1914 Click go Shears in R. Ward Austral. Ballads (1964) 120 The ringer looks round and is beaten by a blow, And curses the snagger with the bare-bellied yeo. 1945 Baker Austral. Lang. 63 Snagger, a shearer who is learning the trade and handling less than fifty sheep a day. 1969 B. Hardy West of Darling 106 Since they were slow, inexpert, and rough in their performances, the poorest shearers in the shed were nicknamed ‘snaggers’. 1975 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 14 Sept. 6/6 The younger men who have taken the old ‘snaggers'’ places, stand up on ‘the board’..and shear along with the best of them. |
3. N. Amer. One who snags fish; one who catches fish illicitly.
| 1946 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 17 Mar. b11/2 Alewives which have been snagged by the many ‘snaggers’ on the dam. 1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 20 Oct. 36/3 Among this group were many snaggers, fish hogs using any means to trap the big fish. One man, armed only with a landing net, scooped away at fish in one pool. |