Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to inhale narcotics, usu. cocaine or heroin, through the nostrils; thus snorted adj., under the influence of the drug; snorting n., the inhalation of narcotics [SE snort].

1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks.
1952		(con. 1948) G. Mandel Flee the Angry Strangers 61: I get weak and a schmecker pulls me in his trap and makes me snort some Horse while I’m hippin him.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 25: I was just taking marijuana once in a while and snorting; I wasn’t shooting it up [...] snorting is where you snort it up your nose, just like if you’re sniffing something.
1979		H. Feldman et al. Angel Dust 87: You know, like a half-hour went by, and being that snorted I still had a nasal drip; so I would just do like (sniffles) and I’d get higher.
1989		Pileggi & Scorsese Goodfellas [film script] 78: Even with Robin snorting more than she mixed, [...] this was a good business.
1992		V. Headley Yardie 105: He took the habit of snorting, to test the quality.
1992		T. Williams Crackhouse 25: People will snort this drug like crazy, and they are supposed to be social snorters.
2001		Eve. Herald (Dublin) 16 Apr. 3/1: In some circles to be seen snorting coke is considered a status symbol.
2003		Bug (Aus.) Apr. 🌐 If filthy rich, very fit young men can’t pop a few Es or snort a line or two, who the fuck can?
2006		G. Iles Turning Angel 344: Now the purity’s so high that you can snort and smoke heroin just like coke.
2007		D.S. Mitchell Killer Tune (2008) 32: Musicians [...] too distracted by snorting and shagging.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 142: If I could [...] sneak up on a junkie shooting or snorting a bag I snatched him up.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 102: ‘It’s a bit mean though, isn’t it? [...] Snorting coke off your Christians’ favourite book?’.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] That was three nights and four days of smoking and snorting and foot-to-the-floor.
2020		S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 137: They had even picked up some women who turned out to be working girls [...] Ronnie [...] snorted coke off the sexiest hooker’s ass.
2021		Breen & Conlon Hitmen 242: ‘Just snorting it to wake myself’.

2. to inhale glue etc. [SE snort].

1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972).
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 1253: Hey, Trashcan Man, I heard you snort Ronson lighter fluid.
1980		J.L. Gwaltney Drylongso 211: It was this cleaner they called Carbona. [...] these girls had this paper up to their nose. They were snortin’ like mad.

3. to drink alcohol [snort n. (1)].

1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 24 Apr. 1/1: Today at the club, when you are ‘snorting,’ console yourself by thinking how Mark Thompson must have squealed.
1973		L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 123: Giving the unmistakable come-on to a shabby old bald-headed fart who sits snorting up a fifth of rye.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 103: [I’d] snort a few halfs in the bar.