Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) perfume.

1905

Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Nov. 36/2: Cripes, [...] I wanted a nose-rag too, but that’ll ’ave to wait, I s’pose; must ’ave the bottle er sniff, if it’s a quid.

2. (drugs) a single inhalation of narcotics, esp. cocaine; a measure of such a drug, enough for a single inhalation; thus cocaine.

1909		Raleigh Times (NC) 1 Apr. 1/2: Witness had tried a sniff of cocaine [...] but is not a regular fiend.
1913		Buffalo Sun. Morn. News (NY) 23 Nov. 13/1: The man [...] took a ‘sniff of cocaine.’ He took a ‘blow of the white stuff.’ He too a ‘shot of snow‘. He took a ‘blow of flake’.
1915		T. Burke Nights in Town 174: Bucks you up after a sniff or two, and you feel all right.
1918		Times 13 Dec. 19/3: In the lavatory he said, ‘I am going to take a “sniff” of cocaine’.
1925		R. McAlmon Distinguished Air (1963) 26: We’d better take a sniff of the cocaine.
1927		Burrowa News (NSW) 24 June 7/4: ‘Angie,’ is the vernacular expression for ‘angel’s food,’ or ‘coke,’ which is cocaine. Taken in the powder form, one packet usually contains enough for four ‘sniffs,’ and costs 10/-.
1930		J. Tully Shadows of Men 194: A sniff will last about fifteen minutes.
1931		Sydney Morn. Herald 21 Mar. 17/2: Several packets of cocaine parcelled up into what are known to cocaine addicts as ‘five shilling sniffs’.
1956		‘Raymond Thorp’ Viper 49: He’s having a sniff [...] Wallace loves a drop of snow now and again.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 101: Give me a sniff or another little whiff, / I’ll tell it all — you win.
1974		R. Stone Dog Soldiers (1976) 12: My opiate [...] is opium. But I’ve been known to take a little Sunday sniff now and again.
1984		‘Derek Raymond’ He Died with His Eyes Open 61: You want to shoot up, dad? Pot. A sniff?
1998		I. Welsh Filth 183: I’ve got [...] some quality sniff and wallpaper-paste mix.
2002		Franklin Favorite (KY) 21 Nov. 17/2: Some slang terms for inhalants are glue, kick, bang, sniff, huff, poppers, whippets and Texas shoe shine.
2009		R. Milward Ten Storey Love Song 93: ‘Cheers, mate, for the sniff; you’re sound’.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 75: Some of the congregation have had a massive sniff of white to get them up and on parade.
2017		Monitor (McAllen, TX) 17 Feb. 9/2: The defense asked Guerra about how much cocaine he did that night; to which he responded two sniffs of cocaine.
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 242: ‘We’re gonna do a sniff or two’.

3. (US drugs) an habitual user of cocaine.

1945

H.B. Darrach Jr. ‘Sticktown Nocturne’ in Baltimore Sun (MD) 12 Aug. A-3/4: [S]o he ‘rides the weed’ harder than ever, which repels Alice [...] because she is a ‘sniff,’ and sniffs can’t stand the smell of the weed.

4. (drugs, often gay) amyl nitrite, butyl nitrate.

1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1988		H. Max Gay (S)language.
1994		D. Fallowell One Hot Summer in St Petersburg 278: The daily razzamatazz of pills, puffs, sniffs.

5. (UK/US Und.) cocaine.

1991		Cooper & Wright New Jack City [film script] [S]ome of the guys[...] buy $50 or $100 worth of sniff.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 33: An up-and-coming sniff retailer wants to treat himself to a BMW rag-top.
2013		K. Koke ‘Fire in the Booth’ 🎵 Bag grams and start pebbling peddle it / Rob man for the grands and a box of sniff.

6. (drugs) glue, paint thinner and other chemicals used for intoxication.

1992

Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 73: Sniff Intoxicating substances ingested by inhalation (i.e., paint thinner, gasoline and glue).

7. a drink [abbr. snifter n.² (1)].

2011

J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] I [...] asked him for a sniff and he went and brought me one back. It was beer.