Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also sniffler) the nose.

1841		Bell’s Life in London 22 Apr. 4/4: His right eye was in a state approaching eclipse, and his classic sniffler looked anything but fit for a model.
1857		Bell’s Life in Sydney 23 May 2/5: Tom once more drawing the cork from a cut on Aaron’s sniffer, and receiving on the left lug.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 189: Jack threw out his ‘pile-drivers’ and caught Ned on the ‘sniffer’.
1905		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘They Begged To Differ’ Sporting Times 15 Apr. 1/3: What looked like an easy catch, / A ‘skyer,’ right above his thatch, / Descended on his ‘sniffer’.
1926		Wood & Goddard Dict. Amer. Sl.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 198: Walking down the street [...] while your sniffer sucks in the perfumes.
1958		Hughes & Bontemps Book of Negro Folklore 477: Nose – Sniffer.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 34: They’ll [...] look down their sniffers at you.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 84: With his sniffer out of commission it was difficult to taste anything.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 131: Sharon going he wanted to get his hooter out, he wasn’t her dad. Mum went it wasn’t sniffers she wanted keep out it was some other part.
2012		(con. 1954) ‘Jack Tunney’ Tomato Can Comeback [ebook] Blood spurted from the broken sniffer.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 137: Guys like that have very educated sniffers.
2016		N. Cummins Adventures of the Honey Badger [ebook] VITAL AUSSIE VERNACULAR NOSE: 1. Cherry picker 2. Beak 3. Honker 4. Sniffer.

2. a snob, one with ‘their nose in the air’.

1891

‘’Arry on a ’ouseboat’ in Punch 15 Aug. 76: This here ‘spiling the River’ which snarlers set down to our sort. / Bosh! [...] It’s these sniffers as want to spile sport.

3. (drugs, also sniffler) a cocaine, morphine or heroin user.

1900		Knoxville Journal and Trib. n.p.: [The] first genuine cocaine ‘sniffers’ that made their appearance in Knoxville were half a dozen negro women from Middlesboro [Kentucky].
1911		S.F. Call 27 Nov. 3/1: Those who take cocaine as a snuff are called ‘snifflers’.
1917		F. Packard Adventures of Jimmie Dale (1918) II xi: Youse cocaine sniffers gives me de pip!
1927		(con. 1910s) H. Asbury Gangs of N.Y. 323: Lower down the scale were the sniffers, who inhaled the drug through the nose.
1930		R. Whitfield Green Ice (1988) 25: Salmon was undersized, pallid, redheaded. He looked like a sniffer.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl. 68: sniffer, sniffler, n. A coke addict.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 47: sniffer – morphine user.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 97: The ‘sniffer’ pays a big price for the indulgence.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 45: There was snow for the sniffers.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 818: sniffer – A cocaine addict.
1989		Courtwright & Des Jarlais Addicts Who Survived 103: The mainliners were those who had reached the most advanced and deadly state of heroin addiction; sniffers were generally neophytes or dabblers.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 376: White horse hits. The word expands. Clients accrue: Sniffers/tasters/junkies/skin-popper geeks.

4. (US black) a nervous, excitable mood.

1934

Tampa Red ‘Dead Cats On The Line’ 🎵 You’re in such a sniffer gettin’ mighty strung.

5. any device used to sense gas, radiation etc; thus sniffer dog, a dog trained to sniff out drugs or explosives.

1970		Sat. Rev. (US) 14 Nov. 59/3: [picture caption] Pot sniffer – Customs now employs trained dogs to find hidden marijuana.
1986		J. Campbell Gate Fever 79: When the prison was fully silent, the sniffer dogs were led in.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 276: A security guard with a sniffer on a lead walk right past me.

6. (US) an (unpleasant) odour.

1956

N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 145: Dove caught a good strong whiff of the sniffer [...] without knowing what he whiffed was actually burning rubber.

7. (drugs) one who sniffs glue.

1972		Smith & Gay Heroin in Perspective 26: The doper is only one step up from the glue-sniffer.
1987		L. Beake Strollers 46: Mesana was only allowed a few sniffs (being a learner sniffer).
1999		Indep. Rev. 10 July 6: Glue-sniffers usually progress to hard-core drugs.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 147: He was a thief, a vagabond and a sniffer.

8. an investigator from the DSS/Benefits Agency who checks on the validity of unemployment benefit claims.

1982

A. Bleasdale ‘Jobs for the Boys’ in Boys from the Blackstuff (1985) [TV script] 42: Well, well, Geoffrey. We are honoured. Two sniffers from the dole.

9. a prostitute’s client who enjoys sniffing her used underwear.

1993

P. Tierney Moon on my Back n.p.: The lads used to lower string down to the windows below them and, in exchange for cigarettes, etc., some of the women used to tie their knickers on to the string and send them up. Anyone caught or suspected of involvement in this type of carry on were slaggingly referred to as ‘sniffers’ [BS].