snake 's-head 
snake's-head (snaks'hcd), . 1. The guiuea- 
hen flower, l-'rilillarin Mrleaarix : said to DP 
so called from the checkered markings on the 
petals 2 Same a,sxnakehca(l,5. Snake's-head 
Iris a plant of southern Europe, Strmodactylus (Iris) 
tubcronu, the flowers of which have a fancied nMmUUM 
to the open mouth of a snake. 
snake-Shell (snfik'shel), . One of a group of 
gastropods of the family Turlnmdte, which 
abound in the Pacific islands, and have a very 
rough outside, and a chink at the pillar. P. P. 
Carpenter. 
snake's-mouth (snaks'mouth), n. See POIJO- 
i'i. Also called xniiki'n-ininilh orchis. 
snakes-stang (snaks'staug), n. The dragon- 
fly. Ualliirell. [Prov. Eug.] 
snake's-tail (snaks'tal), . The sea hard-grass 
Lcpturus iiii'iiri'iitns. 
[Eng.] 
snakestone (snak - 
stou), . 1. Same as 
ammonite : from an 
old popular notion 
that these shells 
were coiled snakes 
petrified. 2. Asmall 
rounded piece of 
stone, such as is *u**nuH>****a 
often fouud among 
prehistoric and other antiquities, probably spin- 
dle-whorls or the like. Compare adder-stone. 
In Harris and Lewis the distaff and spindle are still in 
common use, and yet the original intention of the stone 
spindle-whorls, which occur there and elsewhere, appears 
to be unknown. They are called clach-nathrach, adder- 
stones, or snake-stones, and have an origin assigned them 
much like the ovum anguinum of Pliny. 
Emm, Ancient Stone Implements, p. 391. (Encyc. Diet.) 
3. A kind of hone or whetstone found in Scot- 
land. 4. Same as serpent-stone, 1. 
snake's-tongue (snaks'tung), n. 1. The spear- 
wort. Ranunculus Flammnla; also, the closely re- 
\&t,e&It.ophiof/loKxift>lius: named from the shape 
of the leaf. 2. More rarely, same as adder s- 
tonque. 
snakeweed (snak 'wed), . 1. The bistort, 
Polygonnm Ristorta, a perennial herb of the 
northern parts of both hemispheres. Its root- 
is a powerful astringent, sometimes employed 
in medicine. Also adder"s-icort and snaketcort. 
See bistort. 2. The Virginia snakeroot. See 
snakeroot. 3. Vaguely, any of the weedy plants 
among which snakes are supposed to abound. 
snakewood (snak'wud), n. 1. In India, the 
bitter root and wood of Strychnos colubrina, also 
that of S, Nnx-vomiea, which is esteemed a cure 
for snake-poison, and is also employed as a 
tonic remedy in dyspepsia, etc. See mix vomica, 
2. 2. The'leopard- or letter-wood, Brosimum 
Aubletii : so called from the markings on the 
wood. See letter-wood. 3. A small West Indi- 
an tree, Colubrina ferruginosa of the Rhamna- 
cese : named apparently from the twisted grain 
of the wood. 4. The trumpet-tree, Cecropia 
peltata, or sometimes the genus. 5. Some- 
times, same as serpentwood. 6. The red nose- 
gay-tree, Plumeria rubra. 
snakewonn (snak'werm), n. One of the masses 
of larvae of certain midges of the genus Sciartt. 
These lame, when full-grown, often migrate in armies 
forming a snake-like body a foot or more long, an inch or 
more wide, and a half-inch high. Also called army-worm. 
[U. S.] 
snaking (sna'king), n. [Verbal n. of snake, r.] 
1. The act or process of hauling a log, or of 
passing a line in a zigzag manner or spirally 
between two larger ropes. 2. A snake-like 
curl or spiral. 
The fleecy fog of spray, . . . sometimes tumbling in 
thunder upon her forward decks, sometimes curling in 
blown snakinys ahead of her. 
W. C. Russell, Death Ship, xli. 
snakish (sna'kish), . Snaky. Levins. 
snaky (sna'ki), . [< snake + -fl.j 1. Of or 
pertaining to snakes ; resembling a snake ; ser- 
pentiform; snakish; hence, cunning; insinuat- 
ing; deceitful; treacherous. 
So to the coast of Jordan he directs 
His easy steps, girded with snakii wiles. 
Milton, P. R., i. 120. 
The long, snaky locks. L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, vi. 4. 
2. Winding about; serpentine: as, a tmakij 
stream. 
Watch their snaky ways. 
Through brakes and hedges, into woods of darkness, 
Where they are fain to creep upon their breasts. 
B. Jonson, Catiline, ill. 2. 
3. Abounding in snakes: as, a snaky place. 
[U. S.] 4. Consisting of snakes; entwined 
with snakes, as an emblem. 
5720 
He tooke Caduceus, his niakie wand. 
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 1292. 
snaky-headed (sna'ki-hed/'ed), a. Having 
snakes for hair or in the hair. 
That snaky-headed Gorgon shield 
Comus, 1. 447. 
That fiiaky-iimdni uorgon HUBI 
That wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin. 
Milton romtii 
snap (snap), i'. ; pret. and pp. snapped, ppr. 
ing. [Early mod. E. snappe ; < MD. D. 
_.._-.. = MLG. LG. snappen, snatch, snap up, 
intercept, = MHG. snappen, snap, G. schHiip- 
pen, snap, snort, = Svv. Knappu = Dan. miappe, 
snatch ; perhaps ult. imitative, and practically 
a var. of snack: see snack, snatch. Cf. sneap, 
snip, snipe, snib, snub 1 .'] I. trans. 1. To snatch; 
take or catch unexpectedly with or as with a 
snapping movement or sound; hence, to steal. 
Fly, fly, Jacques ! 
We are taken in a toil, mapt in a pitfall. 
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 4. 
Did I not see you, rascal, did I not ! 
When you lay snug to snap young Damon's goat ? 
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Eclogues, iii. 24. 
Idiot as she is, she is not quite goose enough to fall in 
love with the fox who has snapped her, and that in his 
very den. Scott, (Juentin Durward, xxxvi. 
2. To bite or seize suddenly with the teeth. 
I will imitate ye dogs of JSgypt, which, coming to the 
bancks of Nylus too quenche their thirste, syp and away, 
drinke running, lest they be maple short for a pray too 
Crocodiles. Ooison, Schoole of Abuse. 
3. To interrupt or break in upon suddenly with 
sharp, angry words : often with up. 
A surly ill-bred lord, 
Who chides, and snaps her up at every word. 
Granville, Cleora. 
4. To shut with a sharp sound ; operate (some- 
thing which produces a sharp snapping sound 
when it acts) ; cause to make a sharp sound by 
shutting, opening, exploding, etc.: as, to snap 
a percussion-cap; to snap the lid of a box. 
We snapped a pistol four feet from the ground, and it 
would not go off, but fired when it was held higher. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. U. 225. 
Up rose the bowsy sire, 
And shook from out his pipe the seeds of fire ; 
Then snapp'd his box. Pope, Dunciad, iv. 495. 
5. To break sharply, as some tough or brittle 
object ; break short ; break with a sharp crack- 
ing sound : as, to snap a string or a buckle. 
Dauntless as Death away he walks, 
Breaks the doors open : snaps the locks. 
Prior, An English Padlock. 
6. To make a sharp sound with ; crack : as, to 
snap a whip. 
But he could make you laugh and crow with his fiddle, 
and could make you jump up, aetat. 60, and snap your 
fingers at old age. C. Reade, Love me Little, iii. 
7. To take an instantaneous photograph of, es- 
pecially with a detective camera or hand-cam- 
era. [Colloq.] 
I was reading the other day of a European painter who 
. . . had hit upon the plan of using a hand camera, with 
which he followed the babies about, snapping them in 
their best positions. St. Nicholas, XVII. 1034. 
To snap back, \nfoot-tall, to put (the ball) in play, as is 
done by the snap-back or center rusher by pushing it 
with the foot to the quarter-back. To snap off. (a) To 
break off suddenly: as, to snap off the handle of a cup. (6) 
To bite off suddenly : often used humorously to express 
a sudden attack with sharp or angry words : as, speak 
quietly, don't snap my head off. 
We had like to have had our two noses snapped ojfwith 
two old men without teeth. Shak., Much Ado, v. 1. 116. 
To snap the eye, to wink. HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
II. intrans. 1. To make a snatch; do any- 
thing hastily; especially, to catch eagerly at a 
proposal, offer, or opportunity; accept gladly 
and promptly: with at: as, to snap at the chance. 
2. To make an effort to bite; aim to seize 
with the teeth: usually with at. 
We snap at the bait without ever dreaming of the hook 
that goes along with It Sir R. L' Estrange. 
3. To utter sharp, harsh, or petulant words: 
usually with at. 
To be anxious about a soul that is always snapping at 
you must be left to the saints of the earth. 
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxxlii. 
4. To break short; part asunder suddenly, as a 
brittle or tense object. 
When his tobacco-pipe snapped short in the middle, 
he had nothing to do ... but to have taken hold of the 
two pieces and thrown them gently upon the back of the 
fire. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, i. 32. 
5. To emit a sharp cracking or crackling sound. 
Enormous flres were snapping in the chimneys of the 
house. j. F. Cooper, The Spy, xvi. 
6. To appear as if flashing, as with fire; flash. 
How Caroline's eyes snapped and flashed Ore ! 
E. E. Hale, Ten Times One, ii. 
snap-back 
snap (snap), . and ". [< xntip, ''] I- " * 
A snatch; that which is caught by a snatch or 
grasp; a catch. 
He's a nimble fellow, 
And alike skilled in every liberal science, 
As having certain snaps of all. 
B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 2. 
2. An eager bite; a sudden seizing or effort to 
seize, as with the teeth : as. the xnap of a dog. 
3. A slight or hurried repast; a snack. 
He had sat down to two hearty meals that might have 
been mistaken for dinners if he had not declared them to 
be maps. George Eliot, Janet's Repentance, i. 
4. A sudden breaking or parting of something 
brittle or tense : as, the snap of glass. 
Let us hear 
The snap of chain-links. 
Wliillier, To Ronge. 
6. A sharp cracking sound; a crack: as, the 
mittl* of a whip. 
Two successive snaps of an electric spark, when their 
interval was made as small as about 1/500 of a second. 
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 613. 
6. The spring-catch of a purse, reticule, book- 
clasp, bracelet, and the like ; also, a snap-hook 
and a top-snap. 7. A snap-bug or snapping- 
beetle. 8. A crisp kind of gingerbread nut or 
small cake ; a ginger-snap. 
I might shut up house, ... if it was the thing I lived 
by me that has seen a' our gentlefolk bairns, and gi'en 
them mapi and sugar-biscuit maist of them wi' my ain 
hand : Scott, St. Kenan's Well, ii. 
9. Crispness ; pithiness ; epigrammatic force : 
said of verbal expression. [Colloq.] 
The vigorous vernacular, the pithy phrase of the Yankee 
farmer, gave zest and snap to many a paragraph. 
G. S. Memam, 8. Bowles, II. 375. 
10. Vigor; energy; briskness; life: as, the 
heat took all the snap out of me. [Colloq.] 
When the curtain rose on the second act, the outside of 
" Oak Hall," there was an enormous amount of applause, 
and that act went with the most perfect snap. 
Lester Wallack, Scribner's Mag., IV. 722. 
11. A position, piece of work, etc., that is pleas- 
ant, easy, and remunerative. [Slang.] 12. 
A brief engagement. [Theatrical slang.] 
Actors and actresses who have just come in from " sum- 
mer snaps" to prepare for the work of the coming season. 
Freund, Music and Drama, XIV. xvi. 3. 
13. An ear-ring: so called from being snapped 
or clasped with a spring-catch. 
A pair of diamond snaps in her ears. 
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, III. 29. (Darnel.) 
14. A sharper; a cheat; a knavish fellow. 
Take heed of a snap, sir ; h' 'as a cozening countenance : 
I do not like hia way. Fletcher, Spanish Curate, U. 1. 
15. In music, same as Scotch snrtp (which see, 
under Scotch 1 ). 16. A glass-molding tool, used 
for shaping the feet of goblets, and similar work. 
17. A riveters' tool for finishing the heads of 
rivets symmetrically. 18. An oyster of the 
most inferior quality marketable. [Maryland.] 
19f. Same as cloyer. 20. The act of taking 
an instantaneous photograph with a camera. 
[Colloq.] 
Our appearance, however, attracted shots from all quar- 
ters. Fellows took maps&t us from balconies, from doors, 
on the roofs of houses. 
W. B. Russell, Diary in India, I. 346. 
A cold snap, a sudden brief spell of severely cold weather. 
[Colloq.] A soft snap, an easy, pleasant position; a 
good berth or situation; light duty; a sinecure: as, he 
has rather a toft snap. [Slang, U. S.] Not to care a 
snap, to care little or nothing (about something). [Col- 
loq.l Not worth a snap, worthless or nearly so. [Col- 
loq\ ] Scotch snap. See Scotch^ . 
II. . Sudden or quick, like a snap; done, 
made, etc., hastily, on the spur of the moment, 
or without preparation. [Colloq.] 
He is too proud and lofty to ever have recourse to the 
petty trickeries and snap judgments of the minnows of 
his noble profession. Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 880. 
The previous assent of the Chair to the motion for 
closure would prevent map divisions, by which conceiv- 
ably a debate might be prematurely brought to an end. 
Nineteenth Century, XXIII. 252. 
A snap Shot, a quick shot taken at a bird when rising or 
passing, or at an animal which is seen only for a moment ; 
an offhand shot ; also, a snap-shooter. 
snap-action (snap'ak // shpn), . In a firearm, 
the mechanism of a hinged barrel which, when 
shut, is closed by a spring-catch : distinguished 
from lever-action. 
snap-apple (snap'apl), n. ' A game the object 
of which is to catch in one's mouth an apple 
twirling on one end of a stick which is sus- 
pended at its center and has a lighted candle 
at the other end. 
snap-back (snap'bak), n. In foot-ball, the act 
of a center rusher in putting the ball in play 
by pushing it with his foot back toward the 
