snitch
English edit
Etymology edit
Origin uncertain. Perhaps an alteration of Middle English snacche (“a trap, snare”), snacchen (“to seize (prey)”, whence modern English snatch). Compare also Middle English snik snak (“a sudden blow, snap”). Alternatively, perhaps from a dialectal variant of sneak, from Middle English sniken, from Old English snīcan (“to creep; crawl”). More at sneak.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
snitch (third-person singular simple present snitches, present participle snitching, simple past and past participle snitched)
- (slang, intransitive) To inform on, especially in betrayal of others.
- (slang, intransitive) To contact or cooperate with the police for any reason.
- (slang, dated, transitive) To steal, quickly and quietly.
- 1939, P. G. Wodehouse, Uncle Fred in the Springtime:
- Besides, I shall require your help in snitching the pig. But I was forgetting. You are not abreast of that side of our activities, are you? Emsworth has a pig. The Duke wants it.
Synonyms edit
- (to steal): filch, nick, pilfer, pocket; See also Thesaurus:steal
- (to inform on): drop a dime, grass up, rat out; See also Thesaurus:rat out
- (cooperate with the police):
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
steal
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inform on
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contact or cooperate with the police
Noun edit
snitch (plural snitches)
- (slang) A thief.
- (slang) An informer, one who betrays their group.
- (slang, British) A nose.
- 1897, W.S. Maugham, Liza of Lambeth, chapter 1:
- 'Yah, I wouldn't git a second-'and dress at a pawnbroker's!'
'Garn!' said Liza indignantly. 'I'll swipe yer over the snitch if yer talk ter me. [...] "
- 1960, Barbara Wright (tr.), Zazie in the metro[1], Penguin Classics, translation of Zazie dans le métro by Raymond Queneau, published 2001, →ISBN, page 96:
- He added in conclusion that he strongly disliked the police coming and sticking its nose into his affairs and, since the horror which such actions inspired in him was not far from making him wish to vomit, he extracted from his pocket a silken square of the colour of the lilac flower (the one that isn’t white) but impregnated with Barbouze, the Fior perfume, and with it dabbed his snitch.
- 1978, Brenda R. Silver, quoting Alan Bennett, Virginia Woolf icon[2], University of Chicago Press, published 1999, →ISBN, Take Seven: British Graffiti: Me ,I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Sammy And Rosie Get Laid, page 158:
- On one level clearly emblematic of her class status, “she’d have really looked down her snitch at me”), Virginia Woolf's nose, both Bennett and his audience would know, signifies as well the far more frightening power, the phallic power, attributed to women, strong women in particular.
- A tiny morsel.
- 1963, Jack Schaefer, Monte Walsh, page 3:
- "He pays for the food you eat," said the woman.
"Yeah," said the boy. "And I earn every snitch doing everything ever gets done around here."
- A ball used in the sport of Quidditch: the Golden Snitch.
Synonyms edit
- (thief): filcher, pincher; See also Thesaurus:thief
- (informer): grass, mole, quisling, rat, stool pigeon; See also Thesaurus:informant
- (nose): schnozz, sneck; See also Thesaurus:nose
- (morsel): bite, snap, snippock
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
thief
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informer, one who betrays his group
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nose