snuff, v.² — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

snuff v.²

[SE snuff out]

1. to stop doing something.

1878

‘’Arry to the Front!’ in Punch 9 Mar. 100/2: It cuts me to think you aren’t here, so snuff it, old pal, and don’t tarry.

2. to die; usu. as snuff it

[1827		W. Clarke Every Night Book 84: When one of the fancy dies, the survivors say, that he has ‘stepped below,’— ‘took it in snuff and toddled’ [etc.]].
1860		Bradford Reporter (Towanda, PA) 19 July 1/6: It is hard for us to believe that Stephen is snuffed up.
1884		‘Experiences of a Cunt Philosopher’ in Randiana 118: ‘She’ll be worth at least £40,000 when the old folks snuff it’.
1905		Sun. Times (Perth) 4 June 4/8: The dark days must go, and good times must come / [...] / Or I’ll snuff ‘For the Good of the Cause’.
1907		D. Stewart Shadows of the Night in Illus. Police News 14 Sept. 12/1: ‘That ’ere cussed kinchin Nupper , must have snuffed it as well as muffins [...] here I am boxed up with dead ’uns’.
1910		D. Stewart Tragedy of White House in Illus. Police News 13 Aug. 12/1: ‘That old gal wot snuffed it was a miser’.
1910		D. Stewart Tragedy of White House in Illus. Police News 13 Aug. 12/1: ‘That old gal wot snuffed it was a miser’.
1914		C.J. Dennis ‘The Play’ in Bulletin (Sydney) 16 July 47/1: She takes ’is knockout drops, up in ’er room: / They think she’s snuffed, an’ plant ’er in ’er tomb.
1919		W.H. Downing Digger Dialects 46: snuff (vb.) — Die.
1924		G.H. Lawson Dict. of Aus. Words And Terms 🌐 SNUFF—To die.
1965		(con. 1940s) B. Behan Confessions 71: Since Hitler snuffed there was a great tension and impatience amongst some of the fellows.
1974		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell Plays Solomon (1976) 88: He didn’t snuff so it didn’t get much coverage in the nationals.
2023		R. Milward Man-Eating Typewriter 411: [T]he Old Bat must have snuffed it.

3. to murder, to kill, thus snuffing n., killing.

1960		C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 196: I’ll kill the sonofabitch, Floyd; I’ll snuff the bastard.
1973		K. Burkhart Women in Prison 3: I’ve watched about seventeen women go out of here after serving time for snuffing their babies, while hypes still sit here.
1977		E. Bunker Animal Factory 135: Maybe we can get around snuffing him.
1983		C. Heath A-Team 2 (1984) 34: Hey, I just came up with a great way to snuff somebody and make it look like an accident.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 170: I don’t need to snuff no rabbits.
1998		B. Robinson Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman 62: ‘How do you snuff ’em?’ said Thomas. ‘Butcher comes round every Thursday, smashes them on the head with a coal hammer.’.
2004		C. Hiaasen Skinny Dip 222: Chaz, you snuffed your wife.
2012		T. Piccirilli Last Kind Words 129: [S]ucking his teeth and shaking his head, probably already plotting how he’d snuff me.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] ‘Same bloke previously employed to snuff your mate, Dennis Gould’.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 79: They wouldn’t agree to snuff the girl.

4. in fig. use of sense 2, to silence, to render powerless.

2009

P. Temple Truth 312: Steve, have a word with your friend. She’s got clout, she can snuff the little cunt.

5. (US black) to knock someone down or unconscious.

1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1998		Big L ‘Ebonics’ 🎵 And if you got punched that mean you got snuffed.
2000		Ebonics Primer at www.dolemite.com 🌐 snuff Definition: to hit someone hard enough to knock them down. Example: You mess with me one more time and I’m a snuff you bitch.
2023		Rayman & Blau Riker’s 57: [T]hey was just snuffing guys, just punching guys out.

6. to steal.

1972

E. Sanders Family 45: They hid in the woods [...] snuffing food from other campers.

In compounds

snuff powder (n.)

(US drugs) a poisoned injection, a hot-shot n. (6)

1960

C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 210: How do you think I should know which one slid the snuff powder to Flip?

In phrases

snuff it (v.) (also snuff out)

to die.

1874		J. Greenwood Wilds of London (1881) 25: Snuffed it, and left the missus and the kids [...] in Queer Street.
1883		J. Greenwood Tag, Rag & Co. 142: She was that nigh ‘snuffing’ it that she couldn’t raise her hand.
1894		H. Nevinson ‘The St. George of Rochester’ in Keating Working Class Stories of the 1890s (1971) 42: ’E’ll snuff it, sure as I’m alive.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 31 Mar. 1/8: Another aboriginal has snuffed out in Darlinghurst Gaol, death with prison-walls being the untimely ending of a large percentage of thios country’s blacks.
1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 39: I want ’em for someone that’s snuffin’ it.
1902		Manchester Eve. News 3 Mar. 4/6: Before his signature he wrote the words, ‘Yours till I snuff it’.
1912		Truth (Wellington) 6 Apr. 7/5: Abby didn’t live long to enjoy his new-found honor, for he snuffed out.
1918		Kia Ora Coo-ee 15 June 3/2: A couple of horses and I were the casualties. The horses snuffed it; as for me, a bit of iron just shaved across my foot, lifting the leather of my boot and half the nail off my big toe.
1926		S. O’Casey Plough and the Stars Act IV: Mollser snuffed it sudden too, afther all.
1930		L. Lower Here’s Luck 184: ‘Bill cracks the bottle of champagne over the baby’s forehead, the poor kid rolls over bows first, and sinks. Snuffs it’.
1936		J. Curtis Gilt Kid 287: He was likely to snuff it before they got the damned thing over.
1941		G. Kersh They Die with Their Boots Clean 4: Well, over they comes, and we gets ready to snuff it.
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 152: When he finally discovered what sort of a son he’d produced he had a stroke and snuffed it.
1963–74		B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 30: If she’s snuffed it I’ll never forgive that boozed old bastard.
1974		P. Larkin ‘Going, Going’ in High Windows 22: Then before I snuff it, the whole / Boiling will be bricked in / Except for the tourist parts.
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 225: To snuff it is only like getting your head down.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 95: Thought if I snuff it I’d like it to be in a typical English rural setting.
1997		(con. 1961) D. Farson Never a Normal Man 289: ‘See the old girl’s snuffed it!’ an old man called out.
2008		T. Piccirilli Fever Kill 15: You’d think somebody might at least angle his neck to see if she’d snuffed it.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 298/1: snuff it to die.

snuff a drum (v.)

(US Und.) to break into a safe using explosives.

1908		A. Stringer Under Groove 7: When he snuffed a drum, it was for the money in it, and nothing more. He never saw any fun in the game.
1919		St Louis Post-Despatch (MO) 16 Jan. 25/1: So you went down the main stem [...] did you? Going to snuff a drum (blow a safe).

snuff one’s candle (v.)

(Aus.) to die.

1919

L. Esson Drovers (1977) 8: We’ve got to get on [...] I’d push them through if every blanky man in camp snuffed his candle.

snuff one’s glim (v.)

to die.

1900

Marvel 31 Oct. 16: If we are all to finally snuff our glims here I shall do the graceful exit first.

snuff out (v.)

1. to die; thus snuffing out n., death.

[1802		Sporting Mag. Aug. XX 287/2: The face of brave Captain Megan, / Was as broad as a big frying pan; / Just over his snout, / One eye was snuff’d out].
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict. 259: snuff out to die; a flippant expression similar to ‘laying down one’s knife and fork’, ‘hopping the twig,’ &c.
1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 35: I never saw him before he snuffed out.
1905		Marvel III:55 6: The man mustn’t be quite snuffed out!
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Dec. 15/1: Edith: ‘I ’erd yer got the bullet frum de jam fact’ry, Smacker.’ / Smacker: ‘Sure! De ’ead gee arst me if I’d go ter ’is funeral if ’e snuffed out; an’ I sed I’d be only too glad.’.
1922		P.A. Rollins Cowboy 55: His demise was sometimes referred to as his ‘snuffing out,’ ‘bucking out,’ ‘croaking,’ ‘cashing in,’ or ‘passing in his checks’.
1938		F. Anthony ‘Gus Tomlins’ in Me And Gus (1977) 205: ‘You won’t snuff out!’ said I, in a hearty tone.
1940		Hoofs and Horns (Tucscon, Az) Nov. n.p.: ’F you ’n’ me both snuff out, will we both go t’ heaven and have long white wings?

2. (also snuff someone’s life out) to kill.

1818		J.R. Planché Amoroso, King of Little Britain 9: Death shall pop kindly in, and snuff her out!
1846		Swell’s Night Guide 72: Ive copped some nob-rangers, and I arnt got no chat-rake; so I shall snuff ’em out.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 248: There’s no knowing [...] when they may be snuffed out altogether.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 20 Oct. 13/3: Then it was said that the little man had merely decided to snuff himself out because the Cause was lost.
1909		W.M. Raine Brand Blotters (1912) 168: They would snuff your life out as quick as they would wink.
1937		W.M. Raine Cool Customer 23: You’re asking me to believe that some enemy robbed the bank, snuffed out this book-keeper Buchmann, and carried off Cliff in his pocket.
1945		J. Fishman Bullets for Two 14: The former loan shark himself had pulled the trigger which snuffed out the lives of the couple.
1953		‘Curt Cannon’ ‘Now Die In It’ in I Like ’Em Tough (1958) 71: You killed her. Snuffed her out.

3. to dismiss or reject someone.

1870		Sportsman (London) 17 Feb. 2/1: It is somewhat of a reproach to the memory of Keats that allowed himself to be ‘snuffed out by an article’.
1909		‘Tom Redcam’ One Brown Gal 70/1: Snuff me out, Beauty. Bow your cavalier to the door. Dismiss your Beast.

snuff someone’s candle (out) (v.) (also snuff someone’s light out, snuff the wick)

to kill, to murder.

1901		Marvel XV:373 Jan. 3: He’s snuffed our pard’s light out!
1901		W.S. Walker In the Blood 160: Wen ’e comes back ’e’ll be up to his old games again, an’ I’m goin’ to snuff ’is candle for ’im.
1906		A. Adams ‘The Double Trail’ Cattle Brands 🌐 Yes, tangled his feet in some vines in a sunken treetop, and the poor fellow’s light went out. My own candle came near being snuffed.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks n.p.: Snuff the wick, to kill.
1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 7: Little bastard [...] bet the first word you learned was ‘nigger.’ Too bad somebody can’t snuff out your little candle right now.

snuff v.2

In compounds

In phrases

snuff v.²