▪ I. snuffling, vbl. n.
(ˈsnʌflɪŋ)
[f. snuffle v.]
The action of the verb, in various senses.
| 1580 Blundevil Horsemanship iv. iv. 3 b, Lowd snuffling in the nose, and casting out vapors at his nostrils. 1599 Dallam in Early Voy. Levant (Hakluyt Soc.) 29 They made a great noyse with their snufflinge, and, in the ende, went Runing awaye. 1614–8 Latham Falconry (1633) 138 As you shall see cause, first in the head by snufling or sniting, or any other signes. 1702 E. Baynard Cold Baths ii. (1709) 383 To speak without snuffling is hardly genteel. 1822 Good Study Med. (1829) I. 530 The coryza, or snuffling of old age, is precisely analogous to its ptyalism or drivelling. 1861 Bumstead Ven. Dis. (1879) 747 The first indication..is the characteristic snuffling. |
▪ II. snuffling, ppl. a.
(ˈsnʌflɪŋ)
[f. snuffle v.]
1. That snuffles; drawing air up the nose, or characterized by this.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia ii. (1912) 216 A water spaniell..came downe the river, shewing that he hunted for a duck, & with a snuffling grace. 1735 Somerville Chase i. 324 His Heart Beats quick; his snuffling Nose, his active Tail Attest his Joy. 1760 Cautions & Adv. Officers of Army 98 Little Good can be expected from him whose snuffling Nose, unbraced Nerves, and rotten Carcase, denote him fitter for his Grave..than for his Duty. 1800 J. Hurdis Favourite Village 33 What time the snuffling spaniel, as he runs, Pants freely. 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Legacy (1854) 64 Little shrews peered with perking snuffling noses. |
| fig. 1869 Browning Ring & Bk. xi. 1502 Whose swine-like snuffling greed and grunting lust I had to wink at. |
2. Speaking through the nose; canting, hypocritical, sanctimonious.
| c 1600 Day Begg. Bednall Gr. iv. i, I think this snuffling slave flouts us. 1719 D'Urfey Pills (1872) IV. 124 A Pox of all these snuffling Knaves, That do our Sports despise. 1793 [see snaffling ppl. a.]. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1859) 69 The service was performed by a snuffling well-fed vicar. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 399 The straight-haired, snuffling, whining saints, who christened their children out of the Book of Nehemiah. 1868 Bp. Wilberforce in R. S. Wilberforce Life (1882) III. ix. 271, I have infinitely more sympathy..with his views concerning the Church than with those of the snuffling Puritan clique. |
3. Coming or uttered through the nose; nasal. Also fig.
| 1819 Scott Ivanhoe vii, Answered the Prior, in a sort of snuffling tone. 1841 Thackeray Second Funeral Napoleon iii, They chanted something in a weak, snuffling..manner. 1871 Lowell Study Wind. (1886) 278 He bewails..in snuffling heroics. |
Hence ˈsnufflingly adv., in a snuffling manner.
| 1619 R. Weste Bk. Demeanor 57 in Babees Bk., Nor practize snufflingly to speake. 1837 New Monthly Mag. L. 415 James shuffled, and snuffled,..and snufflingly said [etc.]. |