Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the nose.

1832

Egan Bk of Sports 160: What tho’ a snifter, with a Roman curve, / Should feel how sensitive th’olfactory nerve.

2. in pl., a cold in the nose.

1852

Kendal Mercury 17 Apr. 6/1: He vasn’t hin chanting horder cos he’d got the snifters (cold).

3. (US drugs) a cocaine user.

[1843		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 21 Jan. n.p.: He took another snifter of the perfumed air].
1925		Flynn’s 4 Apr. 819/2: Snifter, a cocaine fiend.
1928		C. Panzram Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 115: I have met every kind of a crook there is. [...] needle pumpers and snow snifters.
1933		D. Maurer ‘Junker Lingo’ in AS VIII:2 27: A cocaine addict is called a snowbird, a cokie, or a snifter.
1934		Weseen Dict. Amer. Sl. 38: [Crooks & Criminals] Snifter A cocaine addict.
1942		Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Sl.
1955		H. Braddy ‘Narcotic Argot Along the Mexican Border’ in AS XXX:2 85: SNIFTER, n. An addict who inhales cocaine.
1959		J.E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo and Lore.

4. (US drugs) a morphine user.

1939

Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.

5. a measure of cocaine, enough for a single inhalation.

1930		Detective Fiction Weekly 5 July 357/1: Well, boys, take me down [to the police station]. Just one snifter of snow and I’m with you.
1934		‘D. Hume’ Too Dangerous to Live 85: He’s been doping for a few months—cocaine. When he was picked up he hadn’t had a snifter for nearly twenty-four hours.
1974		J. Wainwright Evidence I shall Give 99: A snifter when the pain’s bad. [...] It ain’t for kicks. You’re no junkie.

6. a suspicion, lit. a sniff.

1943

T. Thursday ‘Home Runyon’ in Sports Winners Feb. 🌐 But when the rest of the Crackers got a snifter of that handle they raised uncultured eyebrows and had fun.

7. (UK und.) a police detective.

1935

Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 10: Snifter: Detective.

8. (Aus.) a dog who attempts to push its head beneath a woman’s skirt.

1985

B. Robinson Aussie Bull 53: [The dog] also developed a bad habit - became a snifter (used to go up to any woman and shove its great wet nose right up under the dress).

9. (N.Z. prison) high-quality marijuana.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 171/2: snifter n. marijuana of very high quality, akin to skunk (weed).

10. the act of inhaling glue or similar substances.

2005

B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 7: Sorry, Chop, I just needed a bity of a snifter.