▪ I. snood, n.
(snuːd)
Forms: 1 snod, 6– (Sc. and north.) snude (9 sneud), 7– snood (9 snoud); north. 8 snead, 9 sneiad; Sc. 9 snid, sneed, etc.
[OE. snód, of obscure origin.]
1. a. A fillet, band, or ribbon, for confining the hair; latterly, in Scotland (and the north of England), the distinctive hair-band worn by young unmarried women. More recently, a fashionable bag-like or closed woman's hairnet, usu. worn at the back of the head.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) C 137 Cappa, snod. a 1000 in Wr.-Wülcker 204 Cinthium, mitra, snod. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 28 Þa lærde hi sum iudeisc man, þæt heo name ænne wernæᵹel..and becnytte to anum hringe mid hire snode. c 1150 in Wr.-Wülcker 540 Uitta, snod. |
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 377 Ȝone ma nocht saif thair bodie with ane snude. 1643 Orkney Witch Trial in Abbotsford Club Misc. I. 177 Ȝe said vnto hir that ȝe haid Vrsulla Alexanderis snood, quhilk ȝe haid keipit since ȝe put hir in hir winding sheit. 1677 Nicholson in Trans. R. Soc. Lit. (1870) IX. 319 Snude, a fillet, or hair lace. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. ii. iv, The rashes green..Of which..For thee I plet the flow'ry belt and snood. 1771 Pennant Tour in Scotl. (1794) 213 The single women wear only a ribband round their head, which they call a snood. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. v, No hunter's hand her snood untied, Yet ne'er again to braid her hair The virgin snood did Alice wear. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Bloudie Jacke of Shrewsberie (1905) 322 While her tresses are bound with a snood. 1889 R. Buchanan Heir of Linne vii, Her hair was bound up in a simple snood. 1938 Sun (Baltimore) 22 Oct. 5/6 (caption) New hats in vivid colors... Shakos, pill boxes, turbans, brims, pie plates and snoods. 1939 in C. W. Cunnington English Women's Clothing (1952) vii. 262 A spate of hoods and snoods. 1944 M. Laski Love on Supertax x. 92 She carefully placed on the top of her head a little forward-tilting black hat whose draped jersey snood just failed to conceal the mass of yellow wrinkles. 1947 E. Jenkins Young Enthusiasts 47 They..wore ribbon snoods secured under their buns. 1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 148 A knitted or open-work ‘bag’ over the back of the hair. Sometimes a snood is attached to a hat. |
† b. ? A skein. Obs.—1
| 1425 in Kennett Par. Antiq. (1695) Gloss. s.v. Snodde, In viii snoden de Pakthred. |
2. a. In sea-fishing: One of a number of short lines, each carrying a baited hook, attached at regular distances along the main line.
| c 1682 J. Collins Salt & Fishery 112 To each of these are fastned 20 Snoods, alias Nossels, which are small Lines, with Hooks and Baits at them. 1769 Pennant Brit. Zool. (1776) III. 205 The hooks are fastened to the lines upon sneads of twisted horse hair 27 inches in length. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scotl. VII. 204 The quantity of line..contains..720 hooks,..one yard distant from each other, on snoods of horse hair. 1848 Chambers's Information for People I. 699 These are long lines, with hooks fastened at regular distances..by shorter and smaller cords called snoods. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 7 Simple Machine, for making Norsels or Snoods of any length. |
b. Angling. A hair or catgut line attaching the hook to the rod line.
| 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words, Snood, that part of an angler's line to which the hook is affixed. 1832 W. H. Maxwell Wild Sp. West I. 263, I..lost time, hooks, and snouds. 1873 W. Graham in Harp of Perthshire (1893) 149 My licht thrown snood scarce touched the flood When doun it flew like lichtnin'. |
▪ II. snood, v.
(snuːd)
[f. prec.]
1. trans. To bind up, fasten back, or secure (the hair) with a snood.
| 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. i, Her cockernony snooded up fou sleek. 1793 Statist. Acc. Scotl. IX. 325 At home they went bareheaded, with their hair snooded back on the crown of their head, with a woollen string in the form of a garter. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xiv, Her hands trembled as she snooded her fair hair beneath the riband. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. iii. vii. ii, Her sweeping tresses snooded by glittering antique fillet. 1890 Pall Mall G. 29 Jan. 6/3 The new fashion of wearing the hair snooded low on the nape of the neck. |
| transf. 1856 S. Dobell Eng. in Time of War, Home, Wounded 27 Where The larch is snooding her flowery hair With wreaths of morning shadow. |
2. Angling. To attach (a hook) to a snood.
| 1840 Marryat Poor Jack vi, He was snooding a hook. |