310 
SNA 
Glo’ster’s shew beguiles him ; 
As the snake roll’d in a flowery bank, 
With shining checker’d slough, doth sting a child. 
That for the beauty thinks it excellent. Shakspeare. 
SNAKE CREEK, a river of the United States, in Louisi¬ 
ana, which runs into the Missouri, 246 miles from the Mis¬ 
sissippi. 
SNAKE INDIANS, a tribe of savages in North America, 
on the south-west side of the Missouri. Lat. 47. N. long. 
107. W. They are described under the title of Shosho- 
nees, which see. 
SNAKE ISLANDS, a cluster of small islands in the 
Indian sea, near the eastern coast Africa. Lat. 5. 20. S. 
SNATIE-ROOT, s. A species of birthwort growing in 
Virginia and Carolina. 
SNA'KESHEAD Iris, s. [Iiermodactylus, Latin.] A 
plant. 
SNA'KE-WEED, or Bistort, s. [ bistorta , Latin.] A 
plant. 
• SNATCE-WOOD, s. A tree. 
SNA'KY, adj. Serpentine; belonging to a snake; re¬ 
sembling a snake. 
Venomous tongue, tipt with vile adder’s sting. 
Of that self kind with which the furies fell 
Their snaky heads do comb. Spenser. 
The crooked arms Meander bow’d with his so snaky flood. 
Resign’d for conduct the choice youth of all their mortal 
brood. Chapman. 
So to the coast of Jordan he directs 
His easy steps, girded with snaky wiles. Milton, 
Having serpents. 
What was that swa^-headed gorgon shield 
That wise Minerva wore, unconquer’d virgin, 
Wherewith she freez’d her foes to congeal’d stone ? Milton. 
To SNAP, v. a. [snappa, Su. Goth., schnappen. Germ, 
to snatch.—To break at once; to break short.—Light is 
broken like a body, as when ’tis snapped in pieces by a 
tougher body. Digby. —To strike with a knacking noise, 
or sharp sound. 
The bowzy sire 
First shook from out his pipe the seeds of fire, 
Then snapt his box. Pope. 
To bite.—A gentleman passing by a coach, one of the 
horses snapt off the end of his finger. Wiseman. —To 
catch suddenly and unexpectedly. 
Some with a noise and greasy light 
Are snapt, as men catch larks at night. Butler. 
[Sneipa, Icel. contumelio atficere.] To treat with sharp 
language. 
A surly ill bred lord 
That chides and snaps her up at every word. Granville. 
To SNAP, v. n. To break short; to fall asunder; to 
break without bending. 
Note the ship’s sicknesses, the mast 
Shak’d with an ague, and the hold and waist 
With a salt dropsy clogg’d ; and our tacklings 
Snapping, like to too high stretch’d treble strings. Donne. 
To make an effort to bite with eagerness.—If the young 
dace be a bate for the old pike, I see no reason but I may 
snap at him. Shakspeare. —To express sharp language. 
SNAP, s. The act of breaking with a quick motion.— 
A greedy fellow.—He had no sooner said out his say, but up 
rises a cunning snap, then at the board. L'Estrange. —A 
quick eager bite.—With their bills, thwarted crosswise at the 
end, they would cut an apple in two at one snap. Carew. 
—A catch ; a theft. 
SNA'PDRAGON, or Calf’s Snout, s. A plant, [an¬ 
tirrhinum, Latin.]—A kind of play, in which the brandy is 
set on fire, and raisins thrown into it, which those who are 
unused to the sport are afraid to take out; but which may be 
SNA 
safely snatched by a quick motion, and put blazing into the 
mouth, which being closed, the fire is at once extinguished. 
—The thing eaten at snapdragon. —He bore a strange kind 
of appetite to snapdragon. Swift. 
SNAPE, a parish of England, in Suffolk ; 2§ miles south- 
by-east of Saxmundham. Population 456. 
SNAPE, a township of England, North Riding of York¬ 
shire ; 4| miles south of Bedale. Population 646. 
SNA'PHANCE, s. \schnapham, Germ., clavus bom- 
bardae; snaphaam, Belg. ipsa, bombarda portatilis. 
Wackier.) A kind of firelock. Not now in use. —There 
arrived four horsemen,—very well appointed, having snap- 
hances hanging at the poinel of their saddles. Shelton. 
SNA'PPER, s. One who snaps.—My father named me 
Autolicus, being litter’d under Mercury ; who, as I am, was 
likewise a snapper up of unconsider’d trifles. Shakspeare . 
SNA'PPISH, ado. Eager to bite. 
The snappish cur, the passenger’s annoy. 
Close at my heel with yelping treble flies. Swift. 
Peevish; sharp in reply.—I spoke to my lord chief justice 
about lord Forbes’s bail: the lord chief justice was very 
snappish, and said, he would take none, whom Mr. Smith did 
not approve of. Earl of Clarendon. 
SNA'PPISHLY, adv. Peevishly; tartly. 
SNA'PPISHNESS, s. Peevishness; tartness. 
SNA'PSACK, s. [snappsack, Swedish.] A soldier’s bag: 
more usually knapsack. Dr. Johnson says.—We should 
look upon him as a strange soldier, that when he is upon 
his march, and to go upon service, instead of his sword 
should take his snapsack. South. 
To SNAR, v. n. [ snarren, Teut.] To snarl. 
Tygers that did seeme to grin, 
And snar at all that ever passed by. Spenser. 
SNARE, s. [ siiara, Swedish and Icelandic; snare, 
Danish; snoor, Dutch.] Any thing set to catch an animal; 
a gin ; a net; a noose. 
O poor hapless nightingale, thought I, 
How sweet thou sing’st, how near the deadly snare. Milton . 
Any thing by which one is intrapped or intangled.-—This 
I speak for your own profit, not that I may cast a snare upon 
you. 1 Cor. 
Beauty, wealth, and wit. 
And prowess, to the power of love submit; 
The spreading snare for all mankind is laid. 
And lovers all betray, or are betray’d. Dryden. 
To SNARE, v. a. To entrap ; to entangle; to catch in 
a noose. 
Glo’ster’s shew 
Beguiles him, as the mournful crocodile 
With sorrow snares relenting passengers. Shakspeare. 
SNA'RER, s. One who lays snares. 
Never prate on’t; nor, like a cunning snarer. 
Make thy clipp’d name the bird to call in others. Middleton. 
SNARES, a cluster of seven craggy islands in the South 
Pacific Ocean, discovered by CaptAVancouver, on the 24th 
Nov. 1791. They appeared destitute of verdure; and it is 
more than probable they never produced any. The largest, 
which is the north-easternmost, Capt. Vancouver supposed to 
be in extent equal to all the rest: it is about 9 miles in cir¬ 
cuit, sufficiently elevated to be seen in clear weather eight or 
nine leagues off; and is situated lat. 48. 3. S. long. 166. 
20. E. On the 23d of the same month, these islands had 
been discovered by Mr. Broughton, who passed through 
them, and gave to the largest the name of Knight’s Island. 
For Mr. Broughton’s account, see Knight’s Island. 
SNARESTON, or Snarkeston, a hamlet of England, 
in Leicestershire; 6 miles north-west of Market Bosworth. 
SNARFORD, a parish of England, in Lincolnshire; 5J 
miles south-west of Market Raisin. 
SNARGATE, a parish of England, in Kent; 6J- miles 
north-west of New Romney. 
To 
