snigger
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
British variant pronunciation and spelling of snicker[1]. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Pronunciation
Noun
snigger (plural sniggers)
- A partly suppressed or broken laugh.
- 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, page 255,
- Here the unfeeling Toad broke into a snigger, and then pulled himself together and tried to look particularly solemn.
- 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, page 255,
- A sly or snide laugh.
Translations
A partly suppressed or broken laugh
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a sly or snide laugh
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Verb
snigger (third-person singular simple present sniggers, present participle sniggering, simple past and past participle sniggered)
- (intransitive) To emit a snigger.
- 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, page 22,
- […] presently the Mole's spirits revived again, and he was even able to give some straight back-talk to a couple of moorhens who were sniggering to each other about his bedraggled appearance.
- 1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in The Cuckoo in the Nest[1]:
- Peter, after the manner of man at the breakfast table, had allowed half his kedgeree to get cold and was sniggering over a letter. Sophia looked at him sharply. The only letter she had received was from her mother. Sophia's mother was not a humourist.
- 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, page 22,
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:laugh
Translations
to emit a snigger
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References
- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “snigger”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.