Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) a general positive; of places or objects (e.g. a hat), elegant or attractive; of people, pert, lively; over-exacting; also as adv.

1827		Mass. Spy 24 Oct. n.p.: We mought paddle our canoes together pretty snipshush like [DA].
1830		Painesville (OH) Tel. 15 June 1/5: Sniptious—Finically nice [DA].
1844		J.C. Neal Peter Ploddy and Other Oddities 159: He pretended to be so sniptious.
1860		M. Harland Nemesis 14: It [i.e. a house] ain’t so sniptious as you expected, I reckon.
1867		Wkly Democrat (Natchez, MS) 25 Feb. 3/2: Handsome Scotchmen, and sniptious little Scotch lassies.
1875		Hartford Herald (KY) 27 Jan. n.p.: Git her up sniptious [...] None of your dratted one-horse fixins for me.
1884		Mid-Sussex Times 18 Mar. 7/3: ‘Isn’t he a sniptious shot?’ cried Dick.
1885		Belmont Chron. St Clairsville, OH) 26 Nov. 1/6: ‘She looked sniptious I can tell you.’ ‘Much too sniptious, I should think,’ said one girl.
1893		M.A. Owen Voodoo Tales 123: She hatter ’splain w’y she feel so snipshus (pert).
1903		Monroe City Democrat (MO) 9 July 4/2: The Maddix House has been treated to several coats of paint and now looks sniptious.
1905		J.W. Carr ‘Words from Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:i 95: sniptious, adj. Active, lively. ‘Isn’t she sniptious?’.
1913		Morgan Co. Repub. (Versailles, MO) 1 May 1/4: He sported a sniptious spring suit.
1923		Wentzville Union (MO) 2 Feb. 8/2: ‘Sniptious’ meaning smart, perky, was used in New York.
1938		J.H. Warner ‘A Word List From Southeast Arkansas’ in AS XIII:1 7: Her hat was simply sniptious.