Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a blow on the nose.

1818		Egan Boxiana II 119: The latter got a severe snorter, which not only uncorked the claret, but left a stupefying quality behind it.
1824		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 14 Nov. 332/2: The latter got a severe snorter, which not only uncorked the claret, but left a stupifying quality behind it.
1847		Bell’s Life in Sydney 10 Apr. 2/4: Ike [...] followed up the game by a spank on the conk, for which specific act of kindness he caught a snorter.
1854		N.Y. Clipper 18 Mar. 3/4: On shaking daddlesmuch manoeuvring was displayed for the first snorter, otherwise, a lick over the beak.
1855		(con. 1833) Fights for the Championship 128: Byrne [...] popped in a snorter.
1857		Bell’s Life in Victoria (Melbourne) 5 Sept. 3/1: [H]eavy counters followed — Tom on the snorter and Slasher on the forehead.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1889		F.C. Philips Young Mr. Ainslie’s Courtship 165: t is like telling a little boy who is engaged in conflict with a bigger boy to ‘let him have it; hit him a snorter on the nose’.
1927		(con. WW1) P. MacDonald Patrol 44: ‘I plonked him a snorter, and he [...] lay down backwards and his nose fairly spouted’.

2. the nose.

1827		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 10 June 988/3: The snorter of Raines looked red! [...] Jones’s mauley had given it a rum tap!
1833		Bell’s Life in London 7 Apr. 3/2: Lenney dropped his right on Noon’s snorter.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 13: Fiery snorter – a red nose.
1845		Bell’s Life in Sydney 6 Sept. 4/3: On Bungaree again reaching his second's knee the purple fluid flowed from his snorter.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
1860		Sporting Life (London) 17 Oct. 3/4: Tyler let fly his left duke bang on Gillam’s snorter, and again [...] on the left peeper.
1977		E. Torres Q&A 41: Could have been too much coke in his snorter.

3. (drugs) one who inhales (rather than injects) narcotics [snort v. (1)].

1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 407: Coffee didn’t calm the bird-faced little snorter.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 200: I had jumped from being a careful snorter, content to take my kicks of sniffing through my nose, to a not-so-careful skin-popper, and now was full-grown careless mainliner.
1983		Liverpool Echo 8 Dec. 25/3: Pat, ex glue-sniffer, sulphate snorter.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 25: People will snort this drug like crazy, and they are supposed to be social snorters.