Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a snuff-box.

1725		New Canting Dict. n.p.: Cog a Sneezer, Beg a [...] Snuff-box.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. 1725].
1812		Vaux Vocab. of the Flash Lang.
1830		Lytton Paul Clifford III 51: ’Sdeath, here’s a precious box for a sneezer, – a picture inside, and rubies outside!
1840		T. Haliburton Letter-bag of the Great Western (1873) 105: Take the gold sneezer as is there, which will raise the wind.
1851		Bell’s New Wkly Messenger 9 Mar. 6/2: The buzzer, or gentleman’s pickpocket, is either the stook buzzer [...] purloiner of pocket handkerchieves, or the tail-buzzer, seeking [...] sneezers (snuff boxes, or skins and dummies (purses and pocket books).
1861		H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor IV 25: ‘Tail-Buzzers,’ those who dive into coat-pockets for sneezers (snuff-boxes,) skins and dummies (purses and pocket-books).
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 8: Sneezer - Snuff-box.
1889		Clarkson & Richardson Police! 320: A snuff-box (gold) ... A red sneezer.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. [as 1882].

2. a measure of alcohol, a dram.

1788

‘De Night before Larry was Stretch’d’ Irish Songster 4: When a boy was condemned to the Squeezer, / Would pop all de duds dat he had, / To help his comrade to a Sneezer.

3. a pocket handkerchief.

1824		Annals of Sporting 1 Feb. 107/1: [He] picked his pocket of five flimseys, his sneezer, and a turtle-shell snuff-bin.
1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 309: I press upon Jerry Hawthorn, Esq., his acceptance of my [...] sneezer, politely termed a silk handkerchief.
1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 77: Sneezer, a pocket kerchief.
1944		‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.

4. the nose.

1821		Egan Life in London (1869) 260: Upon entering the above Canine Theatre, Jerry’s sneezer was touched with some convulsive efforts.
1827		Bell’s Life in London 29 Apr. 3/1: Jem [...] tipped two facers right and left, and then catching him on the sneezer, tapped the claret.
1835		N.Y. Transcript 4 Feb. 2/2–3: Reed let out his left lunge at the body, and received a smeller on the sneezer in exchange.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 9 Apr. n.p.: The fight was ended by a sockdologer [...] full on Mr Pea-Nutt’s sneezer .
1845		Bell’s Life in Sydney 6 Sept. 4/2: But quickly on his pins again he meditates a teaser / Bungs up the eye of Bungaree and clareted his sneezer.
1847		G.W.M. Reynolds Mysteries of London III 71/2: If you should pinch a lob or plan — / A sneezer or a randlesman — / Or work the bulls and couters rum — / Or go the jump and speel the drum.
1851		Bell’s Life in Sydney 1 Mar. 2/4: Brummagem [...] hammered at Snowball’s sneezer.
1852		Kendal Mercury 3 Apr. 6/2: Applying his thumb to the end of his nose, exclaiming [...] with extended fingers, ‘Vell, there’s von thing, old red sneezer (nose), I can cop me scran victhout ye.
1860		Bell’s Life in Sydney 7 Apr. 4/1: He napped a hot ’n on the sneezer which instantly turned on the tap.
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 29 Nov. 6/3: [H]ow they applauded when Purge got it hot / On the nadget or bingie or sneezer .
1903		(ref. to 1810s–50s) Bulletin (Sydney) 23 July 21/4: Other names by which this useful organ was indicated by writers in ‘Pugilistica’ are ‘proboscis,’ ‘beak,’ ‘snuff-box,’ ‘cutwater,’ ‘snout,’ ‘nasal promontory,’ ‘sneezer,’ ‘snuffer tray,’ ‘sniffer,’ ‘scent bottle,’ etc.
1927		(con. 1835–40) P. Herring Bold Bendigo 106: He’s feeding his sneezer out of Lord Chetwynd’s snuff box.

5. a blow on the nose.

1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc.
1833		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Aug. 31 n.p.: If he don’t look out he will catch a real sneezer .
1834		W.A. Caruthers Kentuckian in N.Y. I 66: I took him a sneezer between the two eyes, glasses and all.
1880		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Feb. 5/1: The assailed reeled, but soon recovered and made a rush at his foe, striking out straight from the shoulder, and would certainly have delivered a sneezer if Mr. Driver had not intervened.
1889		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 9 Nov. 7/1: [A] terrific sneezer with the right.

6. (UK Und.) a gag.

1899

C. Rook Hooligan Nights 51: First fing [...] get that old duck-footed slavey wiv a sneezer.

7. (US) a prison, a local jail, the police station cells.

1911		D. Runyon ‘The Informal Execution of Soupbone Pew’ in From First to Last (1954) 75: There was five of us in the sneezer, held as suspects on a house prowl job.
1931		D. Runyon ‘Breach of Promise’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 15: He is a wonderful hand for keeping citizens from getting into the sneezer.
1940		R. Chandler Farewell, My Lovely (1949) 167: No cure for lads like you, is there? [...] Except to throw you in the sneezer.
1949		A. Hynd We Are the Public Enemies 20: After Dillinger had been shoved into the Lima sneezer.
1953		R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 9: Also, he hadn’t mentioned [...] that almost his last dollar had gone into paying the check at The Dancers for a bit of high-class fluff that couldn’t stick around long enough to make sure he didn’t get tossed in the sneezer.
1967		W. Murray Sweet Ride 204: Denny did it, so they got to send him away to the sneezer, right?
1977		(con. 1949) J.G. Dunne True Confessions (1979) 189: With all the guys I helped get into the department, I was a cinch to beat the sneezer, anyone checked out.