| 释义 |
▪ I. snicker, n.1|ˈsnɪkə(r)|
Also Sc. snicher.
[f. snicker v.]
A smothered laugh; a snigger.
1836Knickerbocker VI. 562, I was partially 'ware of a general snicker through the room. 1857Holland Bay Path iv, That individual..gave utterance to an explosive snicker. 1881Daily News 5 Apr. 6 There's an audible snicker up above. 1888Gunter Mr. Potter xiv. 175 There comes a cruel silence, broken only by a snicker from Van Cott.
▪ II. † ˈsnicker, n.2 slang. Obs.
(See quot.)
1796Grose's Dict. Vulgar T. (ed. 3), Snicker, a glandered horse.
▪ III. ˈsnicker, n.3
[f. snick v.2 The passage is burlesque.]
A knife.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair vi, If they screak, out with your snickers and slick!
▪ IV. snicker, v.|ˈsnɪkə(r)|
Also 9 Sc. snicher.
[Imitative: cf. nicker v. and snigger v.1]
1. intr. To laugh in a half-suppressed or smothered manner; to snigger.
1694Motteux Rabelais iv. lii, While he said this, the Maidens began to snicker at his Elbow, grinning, giggling and twittering among themselves. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Snickering, Laughing in his Sleeve or privately. 1796M. Robinson Angelina II. 251 ‘You may sneer and snicker, and look grand’; cried Sir Edward. 1836Haliburton Clockm. Ser. i. vi, The neighbours snickered a good deal, and the Elder felt pretty streaked. 1855Browning Heretic's Trag. viii, John, snickering, crook'd his wicked thumb. 1880J. Hawthorne Ellice Quentin, etc. I. 255 One or two persons snickered, and others joined in, and almost immediately there was a universal explosion of derisive mirth.
transf. and fig.1857Holland Bay Path xii. 144 And the ripples came up, one after another, and whispered and snickered in his ears. 1884Harper's Mag. May 922/1 A squirrel barked and ‘snickered’. 1897Outing XXX. 172/1 Every wee water-course seems to snicker gleefully as it romps along.
2. Of horses: To neigh, nicker.
1824Scott Redgauntlet let. i, The rascal knows me already, and snickers whenever I cross the threshold of the stable. 1880Macm. Mag. Jan. 217/2 The sturdy colt that hinnied and snickered round his mother in the pasture.
Hence ˈsnickering vbl. n. and ppl. a.; ˈsnickeringly adv., in a snickering manner.
1775Ash Dict., Snickering, a silly kind of laugh. 1872Holland Marble Prophecy 78 Much as if for a snickering fit or a sneeze. 1878Browning Poets Croisic 142 Yes, I'm Macrais, and somebody beside, You snickering monkey! 1885Harper's Mag. Feb. 485/2 They silently—and snickeringly—arose and left the theatre. 1893Advance (Chicago) 9 Nov., There had been..a snickering and chuckling in the further part of the room. |