Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (also snoos, snoose, snoozleywink) a nap, a brief or light sleep.

1753		J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 43: The Cull is at Snoos; The Man is asleep.
1786		Whole Art of Thieving [as cit. 1753].
c.1800		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Out At Last!’ Works (1801) V 116: For the State’s salvation snooze, He bids the Clarets and Champaigns good night.
1811		J. Poole Hamlet Travestie I iv: One afternoon, as was my use [...] I went to the orchard to take a snooze.
1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry II ii: I shall go into my box, after I’ve call’d the half-hour, and have a regular snooze.
1837/8		‘Tale Of A Shift’ in Cuckold’s Nest 34: Soon into a beautiful snoose we fell.
1838		Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 351: I’ll lie down and have a snooze while she’s gone.
1842		Boston Satirist (MA) 21 Oct. n.p.: They had burst the bonds of snooze.
1843		W.T. Moncrieff Scamps of London I iii: If you want a comfortable snooze, why, all I can say is – you’re in luck.
1856		G.G. Foster N.Y. by Gas-Light (1990) 194: The sleepy policeman has gone his last round, and turned in at the station-house for his morning snooze.
1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 14/2: Off we walked for safety, and entering a low ‘lush drum,’ [...] took a big ‘stayer,’ and sat down for an hour or so, until we thought the ‘bloke’ was in a ‘snooze’.
1870		B. Harte Luck of Roaring Camp (1873) 130: Must have been asleep, sir. Hope you had a pleasant nap. Bully place for a nice quiet snooze.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 July 24/3: After dinner at Waratah some go off to have ‘a snooze or sprawl,’ but Will gives his dogs a run ‘in a plantation where the sun and wind were broken by the trees.’.
1889		B. Mitford Fire Trumpet II 202: Haven’t you had a snooze?
1899		Kipling ‘Slaves of the Lamp — Part II’ in Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 289: As soon as it was dark, and he’d had a bit of a snooze, him and thirty Sikhs went down.
1900		Boy’s Own Paper 20 Oct. 41: At last Jack left me to do as I please, as he wanted a ‘snooze’.
1901		W.S. Walker In the Blood 115: Let’s ’ave a bit o’ snoozleywink.
1910		Magnet 27 Aug. 9: I should like an extra little snooze this morning.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 364: Short snooze now if I had.
1928		Aberdeen Jrnl 4 Feb. 5/3: At night, completely exhaustit, I was on the p’int o’ fa’in’ inta a mercifu’ snooze.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 100: Get a driver to give her a lift somewhere and go to kip. Have a snooze.
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 40: After a snooze Nick takes up his guitar and sings.
1959		A. Sinclair My Friend Judas (1963) 131: I was pooped. I wanted a snooze.
1962		P. Larkin letter 13 Nov. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 346: I hope you managed to get another little snooze after I went.
1973		P. Wilson N.Z. Jack 160: I don’t want a thing now. Only a spot of snooze.
1997		D. Farson Never a Normal Man 67: He has stopped the car to have a snooze.
2000		Indep. 10 Jan. 9: Some companies are even introducing sleeping rooms [...] so that employees can have a mid-session snooze without feeling guilty.
2008		Chicago Trib. 22 July 2/4: He’d never pay for a quick snooze.

2. a lodging, a bed.

1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang. in McLachlan (1964) 266: A snooze sometimes means a lodging; as, Where can I get a snooze for this darky instead of saying a bed.
1839		H. Brandon Dict. of the Flash or Cant Lang. 165/2: Snooze – a bed.
1857		in ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue.

3. (Aus.) a three-month prison sentence.

1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 8: Snooze (A) - Three months’ imprisonment.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 77: Snooze, six hours [sic] sentence.
1945		Baker Aus. Lang. 141: Here is a brief glossary of jail sentences: lag, three months, snooze, three months [...] rest, twelve months, all the year round, twelve months.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 239/1: snooze – three months in jail.

4. something or someone considered boring.

1991		C. Hiaasen Native Tongue 160: Months go by and the job’s a snooze.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 145: Spurgeon was a yawn. Duane Hinton was a snore. Eldon Peavy was a faggy snooze.

5. (Aus.) in attrib. use of sense 1.

1985

Sydney Morn. Herald 24 Dec. 3/5: The snooze buses run between midnight and 2am.