Green’s Dictionary of Slang

snooze n.

[? SE snore + doze]

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

[UK]J. Poulter Discoveries (1774) 43: The Cull is at Snoos; The Man is asleep.
[UK]Whole Art of Thieving [as cit. 1753].
[UK]‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Out At Last!’ Works (1801) V 116: For the State’s salvation snooze, He bids the Clarets and Champaigns good night.
[UK]J. Poole Hamlet Travestie I iv: One afternoon, as was my use [...] I went to the orchard to take a snooze.
[UK]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.
[UK] ‘Tale Of A Shift’ in Cuckold’s Nest 34: Soon into a beautiful snoose we fell.
[UK]Dickens Oliver Twist (1966) 351: I’ll lie down and have a snooze while she’s gone.
[US]Boston Satirist (MA) 21 Oct. n.p.: They had burst the bonds of snooze.
[UK]W.T. Moncrieff Scamps of London I iii: If you want a comfortable snooze, why, all I can say is – you’re in luck.
[US]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.
[UK]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’.
[US]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.
[Aus]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.’.
[SA]B. Mitford Fire Trumpet II 202: Haven’t you had a snooze?
[UK]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.
[UK]Boy’s Own Paper 20 Oct. 41: At last Jack left me to do as I please, as he wanted a ‘snooze’.
[Aus]W.S. Walker In the Blood 115: Let’s ’ave a bit o’ snoozleywink.
[UK]Magnet 27 Aug. 9: I should like an extra little snooze this morning.
[Ire]Joyce Ulysses 364: Short snooze now if I had.
[Scot]Aberdeen Jrnl 4 Feb. 5/3: At night, completely exhaustit, I was on the p’int o’ fa’in’ inta a mercifu’ snooze.
[UK]J. Curtis They Drive by Night 100: Get a driver to give her a lift somewhere and go to kip. Have a snooze.
[UK]S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 40: After a snooze Nick takes up his guitar and sings.
[UK]A. Sinclair My Friend Judas (1963) 131: I was pooped. I wanted a snooze.
[UK]P. Larkin letter 13 Nov. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 346: I hope you managed to get another little snooze after I went.
[NZ]P. Wilson N.Z. Jack 160: I don’t want a thing now. Only a spot of snooze.
[UK]D. Farson Never a Normal Man 67: He has stopped the car to have a snooze.
[UK]Indep. 10 Jan. 9: Some companies are even introducing sleeping rooms [...] so that employees can have a mid-session snooze without feeling guilty.
[US]Chicago Trib. 22 July 2/4: He’d never pay for a quick snooze.

2. a lodging, a bed.

[UK]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.
[UK]H. Brandon Dict. of the Flash or Cant Lang. 165/2: Snooze – a bed.
[UK] in ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue.

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

[Aus]Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 8: Snooze (A) - Three months’ imprisonment.
[Aus]Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 77: Snooze, six hours [sic] sentence.
[Aus]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.
[Aus]N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 239/1: snooze – three months in jail.

4. something or someone considered boring.

[US]C. Hiaasen Native Tongue 160: Months go by and the job’s a snooze.
[US](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.

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

In compounds

snooze job (n.) [job n.2 (2)]

anything especially boring.

Sherard posting 31 Jul. at ASmallVictory.net 🌐 I had the same feeling watching ‘Chariots of Fire’. Ultimate snooze job.
snooze stand (n.)

a bed.

Sun. Mirror (London) 15 Mar. 10/3: Snooze stand — A bed.
[SA]L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 90: He gave all the marching orders to the boys, called on them to get out of their ‘snooze stands’ (beds), and ‘shove in the clutch’ (get moving).

In phrases

on the snooze

(US Und.) getting up early to rob a fellow-boarder’s room.

[US]N.Y. Herald 8 Jan. 2/5: It appears that Bill was on the ‘snooze’ at the Eastern Pearl street House.