Link Centre Dictionary

snipe

UK/snaɪp/ US/ˈsnaɪp/ uncommon slang
noun (2) verb (3)

noun

1.

Old or New World straight-billed game bird of the sandpiper family; of marshy areas; similar to the woodcocks

2.

verb

1.
2.

aim and shoot with great precision

Synonyms
3.

attack in speech or writing

  • “The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English snipe, snype (“a type of bird”), from Old Norse snípa, as in mýrisnípa (“moor snipe”). Akin to Norwegian snipe. * The verb originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India, where a hunter skilled enough to kill the elusive bird was dubbed a sniper. The term sniper was first attested in 1824, in the sense of sharpshooter.

Phrases

  • Australian painted snipe
  • common snipe
  • great snipe
  • nerd snipe
  • painted snipe
  • pin-tailed snipe
  • pool snipe
  • robin snipe
  • snipe hunt
  • stream snipe

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Parts

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.