▪ I. snudge, n.
(snʌdʒ)
[Cf. snudge v.1, and see also snowge, snuch.]
1. A miser, a mean avaricious person, a niggard; a sneaking or sponging fellow. Now dial.
Very common from c 1550 to 1610.
| 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. i. (Arb.) 28 Thus youre husbandrie me thinke, is more like the life of a couetouse snudge.., then the labour of a good husband. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1567) 82 Some riche snudges hauyng greate wealthe, goe with their hose out at heeles. 1608 Dekker Work for Armourers Wks. (Grosart) IV. 160 Those snudges and miserable cormorants that now feede vpon thee. 1677 Miége Dict. ii. s.v., A Snudging man, or a Snudge, a man that has a curmudging way with him. 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. xvi. (1737) 72 The filthy Snudge is..mischievous. 1877–88 in Cheshire and Sheffield glossaries. |
| transf. 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 8 He plaid the veri snudg then that had so much lerning and shoud so litle. 1593 ― Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 254 Histories are no snudges in matters of note. 1600 Dekker Fortunatus ii. ii, O I feare that deitie Hath stolne him hence, that snudge his destinie. |
| Comb. 1576 T. Newton tr. Lemnie's Complex. 103 b, Who Snudgelike to his frend..Not one poore draught thereof would send. 1606 Wily Beguiled in Hazl. Dodsley IX. 232, I heard your father say that he would marry you to Peter Plod-all, that puck-fist, that snudge-snout. |
† 2. Cant. (See quot.) Obs. (Cf. snudge v.2)
| 1676 Coles, Snudg, one that hides himself in a house to do mischief. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Snudge, one that lurks under a Bed, to watch an opportunity to Rob the House. |
▪ II. snudge, v.1
(snʌdʒ)
[Of obscure origin.]
† 1. intr. To be miserly, stingy, or saving. Also with it. Obs.
| c 1540 Copland Hye Way to Spyttel Ho. 25 That man that..euer is bare, hungry and indygent, Scrapynge and snudgynge without any cease. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 139 Good husbandry snudgeth, for fear of a dout. 1611 Florio, Spilorciáre, to grudge, to snudge, to dodge or play the slouenlie niggard or pinch-pennie. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Avoine, To snudge it; or churlishly to eat all his meat all alone. |
2. To walk in a stooping or meditative attitude. Freq. with along. Now dial.
| 1677 Miége Dict. ii. s.v., To Snudge about business, aller d'un air rampant, comme font les grands avares. 1687 ― Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., To Snudge along, or go like an old Snudge, or like one whose Head is full of business. 1828– in dial. glossaries (Yorks., Northampt., E. Anglia, Surrey, Sussex). |
Hence ˈsnudging vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 145 Snudgyng wittely rebuked. 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. in Holinshed (1808) VI. 23 Some of his friends, that were snudging penie-fathers, would take him up verie roughlie for..his outragious expenses. 1677 [see snudge n. 1]. 1687 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., A Snudging along, demarche de Faquin. 1713 Prior in Bolingbroke's Corresp. (1798) II. 445, I cannot imagine how you came to know that snudging boy. |
▪ III. snudge, v.2 Now dial.
(snʌdʒ)
[Of obscure origin: perh. related to snug v.]
intr. To remain snug and quiet; to nestle.
| 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Giddinesse iii, Now he will fight it out, and to the warres; Now eat his bread in peace, And snudge in quiet. 1655 Vaughan Silex Scint. i. (1858) 124 The Age, the present times are not To snudge in, and embrace a cot. 1686 F. Spence tr. Saint Euvremont's Misc. Pref. C 3, Tragedy, like the Aristotelian virtue, is to lie snudging betwixt them both. 1755 Johnson, To snug, to lie close; to snudge. 1823– in dial. glossaries (Westm., Yorks., Derby, Suffolk). |