312 
S N E 
of a door. Promt. Parv. Retained in the north; where, 
to snecfc the door also, is to latch it. 
To SNED. See To Snathe. 
SNEECK, or Snits, a fortified town of the Netherlands, 
in the province of Friesland, situated in a low marshy 
district, on a lake of the same name. It is well built, and 
contains 5000 inhabitants. It has a considerable trade in 
beer, and some manufactures of linen; 13 miles south of 
Leeuwarden. 
SNEED, s. [j-naeb. Sax.] The handle of a sithe.—This 
is fixed on a long sneed, or strait handle. Evelyn. 
SNEEHATTA, the highest of all the mountains of Nor¬ 
way, is situated in the Doffrefield chain, about Lat. 62. 18. 
N. Its elevation above the sea is not more than 8000 feet; 
but in this latitude, above 4000 of these are above the line 
of perpetual congelation. 
To SNEER, ®. n. [etymology unknown .] To show con¬ 
tempt by looks. To insinuate contempt by covert expres¬ 
sions.—I could be content to be a little sneered at in a line, 
for the sake of the pleasure I should have in reading the rest. 
Pope. —To utter with grimace.-—I have not been sneering 
fulsome lies, and nauseous flattery, at a little tawdry whore. 
Congreve .•—To show awkward mirth.—I had no power 
over one muscle in their faces, though they sneered at every 
word spoken by each other. Taller. 
SNEER, s. A look of contemptuous ridicule. 
Did not the sneer of more impartial men 
At sense and virtue, balance all agen ? Pope. 
An expression of ludicrous scorn.-—Socrates or Ceesar 
might have a fool’s coat clapt upon them, and in this dis¬ 
guise neither the wisdom of the one nor the majesty of the 
other, could secure them from a sneer. Watts. 
SNEERER, s. One that sneers or shows contempt.— 
The buffoon and sneerer are still on the wrong side of the 
charter. Wnrburton. 
SNE'ERINGLY, adv. With a look or with expression 
of ludicrous scorn. 
SNE'ERFUL, adj. Given to sneering. A bad word. 
The sneerful maid 
Will not fatigue her hand. Shenstone. 
To SNEEZE, v.n. [niepan, Saxon; niesen, Dutch; 
sneysa, Icel., from naepe, Sax.; nasus, Lat., the nose. 
See Ihre and Serenius.] To emit wind audibly by the nose. 
—An officer put the sharp end of his half-pike a good way 
up into my nostril, which tickled my nose like a straw, and 
made me sneeze violently. Swift. 
SNEEZE, s. Emission of wind audibly by the nose. 
I heard the rack 
As earth and sky would mingle ; but 
These flaws, though mortals fear them 
As dangerous to the pillar'd frame of heaven, 
Are to the main as wholesome as a sneeze 
To man’s less universe, and soon are gone. Milton, 
SNE'EZING, s. Act of sneezing; sternutation. Medi¬ 
cine to promote sneezing.— Sneezings, masticatories, and 
nasals are generally received. Montaltus gives several re¬ 
ceipts of all three. Burton. 
SNE'EZEWORT, s. [ptarmica , Lat.] A plant. 
• -SNEIRNE, a village of Irak, in Persia; 57 miles west- 
north-west of Hamadan. 
SNELL, adj. [pnel, Saxon.] Nimble; active; lively. 
Obsolete. Lye. 
SNELL (Willebrord), an excellent mathematician, was 
born at Leyden in the year 1591, where he succeeded his 
father in the professorial chair in 1613, and where he died in 
1626, at the premature age of 35 years. He was the author of se¬ 
veral valuable works and discoveries. To him we owe the first 
discovery of the true law' of the refraction of the rays of light; 
and this discovery was made, as Huygens assures us, before 
it was announced by Des Cartes. Snellius undertook also to 
measure the earth; and this operation he effected by ob¬ 
serving the interval between Alcmaer and Bergen-op-Zoom, 
corresponding to a difference of Latitude of 1° 11' 30". He 
S N E 
also determined the distance between Alcmaer and Leyden * 
and from a mean of these measurements, he made a degree 
to consist of 55,021 French toises or fathoms. These mea¬ 
sures were afterwards repeated and corrected by Muschen- 
broeck, who then found the degree to contain 57,033 toises. 
His works were numerous, and the principal of them are 
enumerated in Hutton’s Dictionary. 
SNELLAND, a parish of England, in Lincolnshire; 4 
miles west-north-west of Wragby. 
iSNELLINCKS (John), was born at Mechlin in 1544. 
He painted in history and still-life; but he derives his 
principal renown from his skill in representing battles, 
particularly attacks of cavalry, which were regarded as pre¬ 
eminent among works of that kind. He was honoured by 
the patronage of the archduke and duchess, and most of the 
nobility of the Netherlands, and enjoyed all the gratifications 
which employment and applause are calculated to afford. 
His taste in grouping is judicious, and he knew how to take 
advantage of the circumstances of a battle to display his 
knowledge of chiaro-scuro with great effect. Vandyck ap¬ 
pears to have honoured him with his approbation, and has 
painted his portrait among the distinguished artists of his 
day, and also etched a plate of it. He died in 1638, aged 94. 
SNELLSTON, a hamlet of England, in Cheshire; 5 miles 
south-east of Nether Knutsford. 
SNELSTON, a parish of England, in Derbyshire; 3 miles 
south-west of Ashborne. Population 449. 
SNENTON, a village of England; three quarters of a 
mile from the town of Nottingham! Population 953. 
SNET, s. [among hunters.] The fat of a deer. 
SNETTERTON, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 3 
miles north of East Harling. 
SNETTISHAM, a parish of England, in Norfolk; 6| 
miles north-by-east of Castle Rising. Population 880. 
SNETTISHAM, Port, a harbour on the west coast of 
North America, in Stephens’s Passage, which extends a 
league from its entrance in a north-east direction, where on 
each side the shores form an extensive cove, terminated by a 
sandy beach, with a fine stream of fresh water. The shores 
are high and steep, and produce very few trees. Lat. 57. 53. 
N. long, of its north-west point, 226. 22. E. 
SNEUWBERG, or Snow Mountain, an extensive range, 
stretching through the district of Graaf Reynet, in the east¬ 
ern part of the territory of the Cape of Good Hope. It 
forms one of the divisions into which this district is divided. 
The pasture is excellent, and the abundance of cattle very 
great, though the settlers cannot without difficulty defend 
their property against the attacks of the wild Bosjesmans. 
This track, however, may be considered as the grand 
repository both of sheep and horned cattle in the colony, 
many families possessing 4000 or 5000 head. 
SNEW. The old pret. of To snow .—It snewed in his 
hous, &c. Chaucer. 
■ 8NEYDERS, or Snyders (Francis). This ingenious 
painter was bom at Antwerp in 1579, and was a disciple of 
Henry van Balen. At the beginning of his practice he con¬ 
fined himself to fruits, flowers and other objects of still-life; 
hut he soon advanced to the imitation of animated nature, 
and in the representation of animals in all the vigour of life 
and action, in scenes of huntings and fightings, if he has 
had any rival, he has not been surpassed for freedom, truth 
and energy. 
Though Rubens was excellent in subjects of this nature 
himself, yet he frequently employed Sneyders to introduce 
animals into his pictures; and such was his excellence in 
colouring and execution, that in this dread competition he 
rose to a level with his great compeer; and produced an 
union of spirit and effect, which has rarely occurred where 
two artists have been engaged upon one canvas. Sometimes 
Rubens, and Joardaens also, returned the compliment, and 
painted figures in Sneyders’ assemblages of beasts, dead 
game, fish, vegetables, &c. Of these combined labours, we 
have many excellent examples in this country ; and as 
Sneyders lived to the age of 78, and was an industrious 
man, they are not thinly scattered on the continent. It is 
impossible 
