snuff
snuff Lexical Profile
snuff Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Finely powdered tobacco, often flavored or scented, that is inhaled into the nostrils or applied to the gums.
"In the eighteenth century, aristocrats frequently carried ornate silver boxes to hold their snuff."
An act or sound of drawing air audibly up through the nose; a sniff.
"The hound gave a loud snuff at the base of the hollow oak tree."
The charred portion of a candle wick that needs to be trimmed away so the flame burns cleanly.
"She used brass scissors to trim the black snuff from the tallow candles."
• verb
To extinguish a candle or small flame (often followed by 'out').
"Before retiring for the night, the innkeeper went through the hall to snuff the candles."
To put an abrupt and decisive end to something, such as a hope, movement, or life (usually followed by 'out').
"A late-season frost threatened to snuff out the orchard's entire peach crop."
To draw air or a scent audibly into the nostrils, or to smell something by sniffing.
"The cattle stood by the fence to snuff the cool evening breeze."
• Rhymes for snuff
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
The tobacco and sniffing senses come from late 16th-century Dutch 'snuf' (from 'snuffen', to sniff), while the candle-wick and extinguishing senses derive separately from a late Middle English noun of unknown origin referring to the charred tip of a wick.