snap v.
1. (UK Und.) to arrest; thus snapping n., an arrest [? the snapping on of handcuffs].
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Three Lords and Three Ladies of London D4: I went a begging from you til the bedles snapt me up, now I am free. | |
| Night-Walker II i: We may make Such noise ith carriage we may be snap’d. | |
| Cheats I i: We took it [booty], and shar’d it, but, coming home were all snap’d by a hue and cry for another business. | |
| Penkethman’s Jests 55: One who had been mew’d up some Time for Debt, coming Abroad again, said he had been like a Fox in a Hunting Country; if he got out of his Hole, he ran the Hazard of being snapp’d. | |
| Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 90/1: The ‘bust’ the previous night and the ‘snapping’ of Yellow Jemmy he was well acquainted with. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Jun. 23/2: What chance would I have agin them traps if you did let me go? I’d be snapped anyhows. | |
| Truth (Sydney) 17 Aug. 11/4: As he’s living somewhere handy / Where he can be easy snapped / On some other faked-up charge. | |
![[NZ]](/static/img/flags/nz.png "New Zealand") | Outside In I i: ma: Ginny get snapped? kate: Sure did. | |
| Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 171/2: snap v. 1 to escape 2 to catch or arrest. snapped out caught, found out, arrested. |
2. to grab, to pilfer; to seduce.
| Woman is a Weathercock IV ii: Thou snapp’st besides with cheats and cutpurses. | |
| A New Tricke to Cheat the Divell III ii: Some breake houses, And others snap at stals. | |
 | Amorous Widow 40: Clod. Spare me but a Bit now [...] Dam. No, I thiank ypou [...] I have too often been snapt that way already. | |
| Speed the Plough I i: The Miss Grundys, genteel as they think themselves, would be glad to snap at him. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Nick of the Woods III 36: It warn’t a mile back, on the ridge, whar the Injuns snapped me. | |
| Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 29: A little extra profit being now and then made by persons ‘snapping’ before we got down to the lowest price we meant to take. | |
| ‘The Heart of Darkness’ in Blackwood’s Mag. Mar. 480/1: ‘[A] species of wandering trader—a pestilential fellow, snapping ivory from the natives.’. | |
| N.Z. Truth 22 Feb. 2/5: He ‘snapped’ the gilded chain of Mrs Williamson. | |
| ‘Mowing Our Hay’ in Me And Gus (1977) 57: I snapped the offer before he had time to change his mind. |
3. of a prostitute, to pick up a client.
| Catalogue of Jilts, cracks, prostitutes, night-walkers [...] and others of the linnen-lifting tribe 1: 6. Mrs Sarah F—r, a great two-handed Strapper [...] if she snaps a Cully his Pocket must pay 00l. 05s. 00d. |
4. (US) to skip any appointment or duty [SE snap, to break].
| in Tarheel Talk (1956) 296: I snapped from church today and McNary answered for me. |
5. (Aus., also snap up) to initiate a relationship with.
| Sport (Adelaide) 15 June 14/1: They Say [...] That Wobbler Twids has also snapped a policeman’s daughter from West End. | |
| Sport (Adelaide) 5 Mar. 5/1: ‘If you’d only propose to her, Fred, she’d snap it up like hot pies ’. |
6. (US campus) to skip a recitation [SE snap, to break].
| ‘College Words and Phrases’ in DN II:i 61: snap, v. To skip recitation. |
7. (US black, also snap on) to tease, to denigrate; thus snapping n.
| N.Y. Amsterdam News 29 Sept. 34/3: The Black and Hispanic kids all related to the film and just fell out laughing, because it was part of their experience. They knew what ‘ranking’ and ‘snapping’ on someone meant. The white professors, just like many film programmers, had a cultural block to the film. | |
| et al. Dict. of Today’s Words 164: Snap – to criticize; put down; diss. | |
| White Boy Shuffle 53: The boys were playing the dozens, snapping on each other’s mothers. | |
| Sl. Gloss. 🌐 snappin: to run down about someone. |
8. (US black) to laugh along with.
| Juba to Jive. |
9. (US prison) to understand, to work out.
| On the Yard (2002) 195: ‘How’re we going to get into the lower yard?’ ‘I’ll show you. You’d never snap.’. | |
| Boys of Summer 308: ‘[D]o you think that, as smart as umpires were then and as smart as they are today, a man could have stood out and throwed the spitter time after time without one of them snapping onto you?’. | |
| Campus Sl. Oct. 4: snap – to come to a sudden realization. | |
| Hot House 179: ‘I snapped. If I couldn’t see him, he couldn’t see me’. |
10. (US) to act more carefully, to stop doing something.
| Shake Him Till He Rattles (1964) 110: You better snap [...] You’ll carve your face off. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | (con. 1940s) Bloods 129: Snap that cig! The flag is down. |
11. (NZ prison) to escape.
| ‘Boob Jargon’ in NZEJ 13 35: snap v. To escape. |
12. (UK black/gang) to shoot a gun.
| [ | | Arab Patrol 290: I [...] caught a quick glimpse of a figure climbing down from a palm tree, and snapped a shot at it ]. |
| Mirror Online 1 Sept. 🌐 Snapping — shooting. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
(N.Z.) one’s wife.
| Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. |
(US) a mentally unstable person.
| Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 17: funny farm – Home for the mentally ill; nut house for the snap cases. | |
| Men at Arms (1994) 18: ‘The streets are safer than they used to be under Mad Lord Snapcase,’ said Lady Selachii. | |
| Night Watch 18: Mad Lord Snapcase. Just another Winder, but with fancier waistcoats and more chins. |
(US) a crooked gambler who runs a second-rate casino, aimed at amateur players.
| St Paul Globe (MN) 18 Aug. 3/1: Clark was one of a gang of ‘snap’ gamblers [...] A small looking-glass attached to the piece of wire was hung inside Clark’s coat. | |
| Tennessean (Nashville, TN) 13 July 3/1: The ‘snap gambler’ [...] opens a handsome suite of rooms ostensibly for poker-playing [...] He caters to none but the young bluds [sic] and business men. A professional gambler would be show the door. |
(US) a cheap, poss. crooked casino.
| Eve. Teleg. (Phila., PA) 1 Feb. 5/2: Besides the above gambling houses there are several others known as Snap-Houses where one can go and put up a certain amount of money and win with it or lose it, and pay the proprietor for the privilege. | |
| (con. mid-19C) Sucker’s Progress 185: Those extraordinary gambling dens generally known as Wolf-Traps, but sometimes as Snap Houses, Deadfalls and Ten Per Cent Houses, are said to have originated in Cincinnati about 1835. |
In phrases
see also under relevant n.
to make a quick recovery from a setback.
| Sun (Baltimore) 13 Jan. 5/1: If the Government acts quickly [...], the aircraft industry will snap back quickly [OED]. | |
| Guardian 2 Nov. 🌐 Enright’s prose is delicate and beautiful, occasionally drowning in indulgence, only to snap back with an acute observation or insight. |
to involve oneself enthusiastically.
| in Stretchers (1930) 239: Oh, snap into it! We want to get this done [DA]. | |
| Classics in Sl. 79– 80: A new referee walks over and says for me to snap into it. | |
| ‘Popeye’ Thimble Theatre series No. 2 n.p.: Orderly, come here – snap into it. | |
| Mating Season 233: These flatties are trained to snap into it. | |
| Century of Great Western Stories 488: ‘Snap into it, Tony!’ Tony got up. |
(US) to fire a shot.
| Vice Trap 57: If some Enoch moves slow you’ll snap off at him. |
see sense 5 above .
1. (Aus. prison) to defecate.
| Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Snap one off. To defecate. | |
| Tales of the Honey Badger [ebook] I realise I haven’t snapped one off in a while. I made an embarrassing trip to the chemisr [and] inquired about some ‘constipation-busters’ . |
2. to masturbate.
| ‘Male & Female Masturbation Terms’ at Spankmag.com 22 Oct. 🌐 Snapping one off. |
3. (US Und.) to shoot.
| ‘Corner Boys’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 8 [TV script] You just gonna walk up on him, a’ight. Snap one. |
(US) to hurry up.
| Oil Fields 112: Snap your dick v, to hurry. |
(US) to lose emotional control.
| Sporting Times 8 Jan. 1/5: So critically did he examine and test with his teeth each sovereign, that the fielder snapped out quite angrily: ‘Ye don’t think I’m down here to pass bad money on ye, do yer?’. | |
| Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 37: stay loose – Keep calm; don’t get excited; don’t snap out. | |
| About Three Bricks Shy of a Load 271: ‘If I get to play too, I’m liable to snap out. Be too happy.’. |
to masturbate.
| et al. DAUL 200/1: Snap the rubber or whip. To masturbate. |
to masturbate, to masturbate another person.
| see snap the rubber | |
| One Hundred Dollar Misunderstanding 40: I gits movin okay an I goin fine’s I ever do go, and I snappin the whip an punchin the apple. |
to work something out, to identiify.
| Suicide Hill 225: ‘[B]et you don't know how the guys who pulled them kidnap heists snapped to the two girlfriends’. | |
| Muscle for the Wing 91: We’d have to cap him, then, or he’d snap to it after the rip. |
(US) to get going, to get busy, to hurry up; to hurry someone up; esp. as imper. snap to it!
| World I Never Made 209: Come on, snap up, Margaret what? | |
| Cohort of the Damned 101: [H]e gave his orders to his aides in a sharp, crisp accent, denoting that though he disliked his job others should still snap to it . | |
| (con. 1943–5) To Hell and Back (1950) 11: Aw right, come on. Snap to it. | |
| Duke 42: That snapped the driver up fast. | |
| From Here to Eternity (1998) 417: ‘Hey pizon,’ he yelled down the bar, ‘snap up!’. | |
| (con. 1943) Big War 234: Snap — to, you pitiful, gutless GFO! | |
| Chosen Few (1966) 105: Snap to, it’s gettin’ late. | |
| Dock Ellis 63: Any troubles he had in school [...] probably came from people who expected him to snap to, and do what they said immediately. | |
| Indep. on Sun. Mag. 9 Apr. 17: Screaming at the top of my lungs, until the police came at 7am, whereupon I snapped to. |
1. to arrest, to catch hold of.
| Hiparama of the Classics 20: So finally they snap up all the Christian Cats and they take ’em down to this big Palladium. |
2. (US) to become insane (or pose as such).
| Carlito’s Way 125: I could snap up and get sent to the federal bughouse. |