▪ I. snore, n.
(snɔə(r))
Also 6 Sc. snor, snoir(e.
[f. the vb.]
† 1. A snort; snorting. Obs. rare.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1821 Þeyr teþ gnaisted wiþ nose snore, Hurtlede hedes set ful sore; Ilk oþer pulled, ilk oþer schok. 1513 Douglas æneid x. x. 72 For feir thai [sc. horses] start abak..And brak away with the cart to the schor, With stendis feyll and mony bray and snor. |
2. A disease or affection which causes snuffling; the snivels.
| a 1585 Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 302 (Tullib.), The snuf, þe snoir, þe scheippisch, the schanker. 1844 W. Jamie Muse 157 (E.D.D.), May he ne'er be subject unto snors. 1844 Lowson Mod. Farrier 209 This affection is termed the snores or snivels. |
3. An act of snoring; a harsh or noisy respiration through the mouth, or through the mouth and nose, during sleep.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. ii. 6 The surfeted Groomes doe mock their charge with Snores. I haue drugg'd their Possets. 1610 ― Temp. ii. i. 218 Thou do'st snore distinctly, There's meaning in thy snores. 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. i. 133 The snores and snorts that came from them [a man and his wife]. 1826 F. Reynolds Life & Times II. 213 Then with a loud snore, he again sank into sleep. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. ii. 21 The sound rose and fell for several minutes, like a kind of intermittent snore. 1897 M. Kingsley W. Africa 418 One of them has an abominable quavering, hysterical, falsetto snore. |
b. all of a snore, filled with the sound of snoring. rare.
| 1834 Beckford Italy II. 244 Dark vestibules and guard⁓chambers (all of a snore with jaded equerries). |
4. transf. A sound resembling that of a snore; a loud roaring or droning noise.
| 1709 Brit. Apollo No. 41. 3/1 She wak'd from Bag-pipe snore. 1832 Denniston Craignilder 60 Now dark December's wintry snore Rang through the leafless wood. |
5. Mining. A snore-piece.
| 1875 J. H. Collins Met. Mining 89 The suction pipe a, now called the ‘wind-bore’ or ‘snore’. |
▪ II. snore, v.
(snɔə(r))
Also 7 snoar, 7–8 snoore.
[prob. imitative: cf. snork v. and snort v.]
1. a. intr. Of animals, esp. horses: To snort. Now dial.
| c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 7738 The horses snored as it hadde thondred. 1530 Palsgr., 724/1 I snore..as a horse dothe. 1648 Hexham ii, Ruchelen, to Grunt, or to Snoore like Hoggs. 1778 G. White Selborne lxxxv, They [owls]..can snore and hiss when they mean to menace. 1786 Burns To Auld Mare viii, How thou wad prance, an' snore, an' scriegh, An' tak the road! 1898 C. Spence Poems 57 He [a bull]..roared and bored and sniffed and snored. |
b. Sc., north. dial. and U.S. Of things, wind, etc.: To make or give out a roaring or droning noise.
| 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize xiv, I never hear my ain bellows snoring at a gaud o' iron in the fire, but [etc.]. 1842 Vedder Poems 75 A score of rival steamers..Hiss, flap, and snore, like river monsters. 1886 W. Alexander S. Augustine's Holiday 135 The wind..Humming and snoring thro' rigging and spar. 1935 W. Faulkner As I lay Dying 40 Beyond the porch Cash's saw snores steadily into the board. |
c. Of a ship, etc.: To move or cut through the water with a roaring sound; to sail or travel quickly. Chiefly Sc.
| 1830 Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXVII. 540 Our cut-water snores through the swell. 1834 M. Scott Tom Cringle x, She began to snore through it like smoke. 1849 Cupples Green Hand iii. (1856) 36 The pilot-boat snoring off close-hauled to windward. |
2. a. To make harsh or noisy sounds in sleep by breathing through the open mouth or through the mouth and nose; to breathe in this manner during sleep. Also poet. or rhet., to sleep heavily.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 462/1 Snoryn, yn sleep, sterto. 1530 Palsgr. 724/1, I wylle nat lye with hym, he snoreth so in his slepe. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 284 Nature hath not giuen unto men their essence & being..to slugge and snore in the couche of carelessnesse. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxvii. xii. 323 Whiles the centinels by reason of securitie were found asleepe that they snored againe, the citie gate was set open. 1658 A. Fox Würtz' Surg. iii. ii. 222 Sound peoples sleep is not alike, some snoar in their sleep, others without a noise. 1695 Prior Prol. Dryden's ‘Cleomenes’ 20 Most of you snor'd whilst Cleomenes read. 1725 Pope Odyss. ix. 440 Then nodding with the fumes of wine, [he] Dropt his huge head, and snoring lay supine. 1784 Cowper Task i. 90 The nurse sleeps sweetly, hir'd to watch the sick, Whom snoring she disturbs. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxx, [He] tumbled himself into one of the cribs..and soon was heard to snore soundly. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xvi. 107 He assured me..that he did not snore, and we lay down side by side. 1900 Pollok & Thom Sports Burma 286 A solitary tusker elephant sound asleep and snoring loudly. |
| fig. 1660 N. Ingelo Bentivolio & Urania ii. (1682) 89 The Soul, having snor'd many hundreds or thousands of years. |
b. I snore, used as a mild expletive. U.S.
| 1790 Mass. Spy 30 Dec. (Thornton), In one village you will hear the phrase ‘I snore’,—in another, ‘I swowgar’. 1836 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. i. xii, Now its fairly run out, that's a fact, I snore. Ibid. xxxvi, You will, I snore. |
3. trans. With out or away: To spend or pass (time) in snoring.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. v. 28 Sleepe with it now, Yet not so sound..As hee whose Brow..Snores out the Watch of Night. a 1704 T. Brown Walk r. Lond., Tavern Wks. 1709 III. iii. 9 Where she Surfeits upon Sack,..and Snoars away the Remainder of her Life. 1746 Francis tr. Hor., Sat. i. iii. 24 He drank the Night away Till rising Dawn, then snor'd out all the Day. 1781 Cowper Hope 510 The full-gorg'd savage at his nauseous feast Spent half the darkness, and snor'd out the rest. 1829 Scott Anne of G. xix, Some..snored away the interval between their own arrival and that of the expected repast. |
4. To bring into a certain state by snoring (cf. quots.).
| 1784 Cowper Task i. 97 Sleep Of lazy nurse, who snores the sick man dead. a 1793 J. Pearson Polit. Dict. 10 If the House are too sleepy to cough him down, they'll soon snore him down. |
5. To utter with a snore or with a sound resembling this. Also with cognate object.
| 1790 Coleridge Inside the Coach 22 Till ere the splendid visions close We snore quartettes in ecstasy of nose. 1889 Gunter That Frenchman ii, Maurice..is already asleep and snoring the snores of an exhausted manhood. 1891 Daily News 9 Feb. 6/2 Some good people seemed to snore prayer; they were so sleepy. |