▪ I. snod, a. Sc. and north. dial.
(snɒd)
Also 7 snoode (?).
[Of obscure origin: the stem may be the same as that of ON. snoðinn bald (Norw. snoden bare).]
1. Smooth, sleek; even. Also absol.
| c 1480 Henryson Fables, Wolf & Sheep viii, He wald chais thame baith throw rouch and snod. 1513 Douglas æneid v. xiii. 24 His awin heid warpit with a snod olive, Heich in a schippis forcastell [he] did stand. a 1585 Polwart Flyting w. Montgomerie 562 Foot-foundred beasts..Hes not their hair sa snod as other good. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 4 Howe to choose a good Tuppe. Lett him bee..of a snoode and goode stapple. 1692 A. Symson in Macfarlane's Geogr. Coll. (S.H.S.) II. 102 The long beards and awnds are separated from the corne; and the corne made, as they terme it, more snod and easie to pass through the mill. 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq. Gloss. s.v. Snodde, Wheat ears are said to be snod when they have no beard or awns. And a tree is snod when the top is cut smooth off. 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves (ed. 2) Gloss. 96 Snod, smooth. 1790 Mrs. Wheeler Westm. Dial. (1821) 18 A lile stiff fello, wie a varra snod feace. 1862 C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds 416 A snod piece o' cloath—as snod as a bit o' silk! |
| Comb. 1855 Waugh Life & Local. 201 Rough and free as so many snod-backed young modiwarps. 1898 A. Ollivant Owd Bob xiii. 117 Ye ox-limbed, snod-faced profleegit! |
2. Of persons: Neat, tidy, trim, smart, spruce.
| 1691 Ray N.C. Words 66 Snod,..neat, handsome. 1719 Ramsay To Arbuckle 71 A black-a-vic'd snod dapper fallow. 1756 M. Calderwood Jrnl. (1884) 194 The niece was a little, snod, fair lass. 1822 Galt Provost xxvi, A tight and snod serving lassie. 1889 Barrie Window in Thrums 14 Here comes the minister himsel', an' very snod he is. |
b. Of things: Neat, trim, in good order.
| 1717 Ramsay Elegy Lucky Wood iv, She..kept her housie snod and bein. 1785 Hutton Bran New Wark 3 The gentleman that treads in black snod pumps. 1819 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd (1827) 41 His velvet breeks,..The snoddest pairt o' his attire. 1837 R. P. Gillies Recoll. Scott iii. ix. 199, I see ye're admiring how snod the library looks there. 1894 Crockett Raiders xxii. (ed. 3) 195 My clothes were clean brushed and exceedingly neat and snod. |
3. Comfortable, snug, cosy. Also as quasi-adv.
| 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq. Gloss. s.v. Snodde, To lie snod and snug. 1888 Barrie When a Man's Single (1900) 91/2 ‘Ay,’ he said, with a chuckle, ‘but I've a snod bit cornery up there for mysel'’. |
▪ II. snod, v.
(snɒd)
[f. prec.]
trans. To make smooth, trim, or neat; to tidy, put in order. Also with down, off, up.
| 1584 Hudson Judith iv. 269 On stake and ryce, hee knits the crooked vines, And snoddes their bowes. a 1774 Fergusson Poems (1789) II. 7 Ye saw yoursel how weel his mailin' thrave, Ay better faugh'd an' snodit than the lave. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 85 The ploughman cultivates the field, The mower snods the common. 1819 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) IV. viii. 251, I have planted a number of shrubs,..and am snodding up the drive of the old farm house. 1865 G. Macdonald A. Forbes xxvi. 115 The..tallow candles..had..to be snodded laboriously. |