▪ I. snubby, n. U.S. slang.
(ˈsnʌbɪ)
Also snubbie.
[Prob. abbrev. of *snub nose n. 2 or snub-nosed a., rather than directly f. the adj.]
A small, cheap, short-barrelled handgun; a snub-nosed revolver.
| 1981 Washington Post 22 Nov. c1/3 (heading) Ban ‘snubbies’ and solve the great handgun debate. 1983 E. Leonard LaBrava (1985) xv. 158 You want a snubbie. This one, .38 Special, two-inch barrel. 1984 New Yorker 12 Nov. 133/1 That arsenal is made up chiefly of snub-nosed handguns—or snubbies, as they're called. The snubbies are more dangerous than bigger handguns for the obvious reason that they are so easily concealable. 1986 Target Gun Aug. 17/1 They are hardly concealable—an essential element of the snubby concept—and they carry adjustable sights. |
▪ II. ˈsnubby, a.1 rare—1.
[f. snub n.1 4.]
Knotty.
| a 1758 M. Mendez Seasons, Summer 1 in Coll. Poems (1770) II. 233 Beneath yon snubby oak's extended shade. |
▪ III. snubby, a.2
(ˈsnʌbɪ)
[f. snub a. Cf. Sw. dial. snubbug, snubbi, Icel. snubbóttr (Norw. snubbutt) in same sense.]
Somewhat snub; short, stumpy.
| (a) 1828 Blackw. Mag. XXIII. 494 What a snout he turns up to the morning air,..pimpled, snubby, and snorty. 1860 Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. I. 108 Her little straight nose, not at all snubby. 1894 Sir E. Sullivan Woman 69 If Cleopatra's nose had been..a little more snubby or a little more aquiline. |
| (b) 1854 A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., What a snubby point you've got to your pencil. 1865 Whitney Gayworthys iv, The snubby end of her little freckled nose. |
▪ IV. snubby, a.3
(ˈsnʌbɪ)
[f. snub v.1]
Inclined to snub; repressing with snubs.
| 1867 E. V. B. in Cornhill Mag. (1907) Feb. 196 She would not understand. She was just a little snubby, I thought. 1889 ‘F. Anstey’ Pariah i. iii, You were so very snubby to that poor Mr. Chadwick. |