snudge

English

WOTD – 15 July 2025

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /snʌd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (General American):

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• Rhymes: -ʌdʒ

Etymology 1

The origin of the verb is unknown. The noun is possibly derived from the verb.

Verb

snudge (third-person singular simple present snudges, present participle snudging, simple past and past participle snudged) (intransitive, obsolete)

1. (also transitive with the dummy pronoun it) To save in a miserly manner; to hoard.
   • 1570, Thomas Tusser, “Comparing Good Husband with Vnthrift His Brother, the Better Descerneth the Tone from the Tother”, in A Hundrethe Good Pointes of Husbandrie, Lately Maried vnto a Hundrethe Good Points of Huswifry Newly Corrected and Amplified […], revised edition, London: […] [Henry Denham? for] Rychard Tottyl, published 1571, →OCLC, stanza 2, folio 22, verso:

     Ill huſbandry trudgeth with vnthrifts about, / good huſbandry ſnudgeth for feare of a dout.

   • 1611, Randle Cotgrave, compiler, “Avoine”, in A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, signature H, recto, column 2:

     Manger ſon avoine en ſon ſac. To ſnudge it; or churliſhly to eat all his meat all alone; (from Moyles [mules], vvho haue bags of prouender hung ſo cloſe to their noſes, that none but themſelues can come at it.)

2. (except UK, dialectal) Also followed by along: to walk with one's head down; to walk with a stoop.
   • [1687–1688, Guy Miege, “to Snudge along”, in The Great French Dictionary. […], London: […] J. Redmayne, for Tho[mas] Basset, […], →OCLC, signature Qqq3, verso, column 1:

     [T]o Snudge along, to go like an old Snudge, or like one vvhoſe Head is full of buſineſs, […]

     The noun snudge is defined on the same page as “an old Curmudgeon, or close-fisted Fellow”.]

Conjugation

Conjugation of snudge

infinitive	(to) snudge
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	snudge	snudged
2nd-person singular	snudge, snudgest†	snudged, snudgedst†
3rd-person singular	snudges, snudgeth†	snudged
plural	snudge
subjunctive	snudge	snudged
imperative	snudge	—
participles	snudging	snudged

^† Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms

• snudging (adjective, noun)

Translations

to walk with one’s head down — see stoop

Noun

snudge (plural snudges) (obsolete except UK, dialectal, derogatory)

1. A greedy, stingy person; a miser.
   • 1545, Roger Ascham, “The First Booke”, in Toxophilus, the Schole, or Partitions of Shooting […], [new] edition, London: […] Thomas Marshe, published 1571, →OCLC, folio 2, recto:

     And thus your huſbandrye me thincke, is more like the life of a couetous ſnudge that ofte very euill preues, then the labour of a good huſbãde [husbande] that knoweth well what he doth.

   • 1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. […] (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London]: [s.n.], [1870], →OCLC, page 164:

     Hiſtories are no ſnudges in matters of note: […]

     A figurative use.

   • 1609, Thomas Dekker, “The Pittifull Petition of Vintners, Victuallers, Inkeepers, &c. without the Barres”, in Worke for Armorours: or, The Peace is Broken. […], London: […] [Nicholas Okes] for Nathaniel Butter […], →OCLC, signature G, verso:

     Iſſue therefore forth amongſt good fellovvs, that vvill ſooner fight for thee, then thoſe ſnudges & miſerable cormorants that novv feede vpon thee.

2. A dishonest and sneaky person.
   • 1599 November–December (date written), Thomas Dekker, The Pleasant Comedie of Old Fortunatus. […], London: […] S. S. for William Aspley, […], published 1600, →OCLC, signature [E4], recto:

     And in that ſlepe (me thought) I heard the tunes / Of ſullen paſſions apt for Funerals, / And ſaw my Fathers liueleſſe body borne / By Satyres: O I feare that deitie / Hath ſtolne him hence, that Snudge his deſtinie.

   • 1653, Francis Rabelais [i.e., François Rabelais], translated by [Thomas Urquhart, Peter Anthony Motteux], “How Pantagruel Came to the Island of the Apedefers, or Ignoramus’s, with Long Claws, and Crooked Paws, and of Terrible Adventures and Monsters there”, in The Works of Francis Rabelais, Doctor in Physick: Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds, and Sayings of Gargantua, and His Sonne Pantagruel. […], London: […] [Thomas Ratcliffe and Edward Mottershead] for Richard Baddeley, […], →OCLC; republished in volume II, London: […] Navarre Society […], [1948], →OCLC, 5th book, pages 309–310:

     […] I 'll lay Five Pounds to a Hazelnut, the foul Thief has the very Looks of Gripe-me-now. […] [T]hou 'rt the right; for if we but examin that treacherous Review's ill-favour'd Phiz, we find that the filthy Snudge is yet more mischievous and ignorant than these ignorant Wretches here; […]

Derived terms

• snidge (“greedy, stingy person”) (Lancashire)
• snudgery (obsolete)

Related terms

• snuch (“greedy, stingy person”) (possibly related, obsolete)

Translations

greedy, stingy person — see miser

Etymology 2

Origin unknown, possibly related to snug.

Verb

snudge (third-person singular simple present snudges, present participle snudging, simple past and past participle snudged)

1. (intransitive, obsolete except UK, dialectal) To lie quiet and snug; to nestle, to snuggle.

   to snudge over a fire

   • [1633], George Herbert, “Giddinesse”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor, The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green, […], →OCLC, page 120:

     Novv he vvill fight it out, and to the vvarres; / Novv eat his bread in peace, / And ſnudge in quiet: novv he ſcorns increaſe; / Novv all day ſpares.

Further reading

• Joseph Wright, editor (1905), “SNUDGE, v., sb.¹ and adj.”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: […], volume V (R–S), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to the English Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 597–598.
• “snudge, v. and n.”, in Collins English Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Sugden, nudges