| 释义 |
▪ I. snift, n. techn.
[f. snift v.; cf. dial. snift a scent, whiff, etc.]
(See quot. and snifting vbl. n.)
1890Times 7 Aug. 10/2 The whole of the ‘snift’ (which is the waste in bottling aerated waters) is saved by this machine.
▪ II. snift, v. Now chiefly dial.|snɪft|
[Imitative: cf. snifter v., and older Da. snifte, snyfte (Da. snøfte), Sw. snyfta, (MSw. snypta, snöpta).]
1. intr. To sniff, in various senses.
The vbl. n. is recorded much earlier.
1703Thoresby Let. to Ray (E.D.S.), Snift, to draw the wind smartly up the nose. 1744Desaguliers Exp. Philos. ii. xii. 474 The Air makes a Noise..like a Man snifting with a Cold. 1762Sterne Tr. Shandy vi. v, He shall neither..hawk, or spit, or snift. 1801H. F. Cary Mem. I. 186 With her mouth and nose drawn up on one side, and snifting through the latter, which..is the highest elevation of her mirth and gladness. 1828–in dial. glossaries and texts (N. Cy., Yks., Lancs., Leic., Northampt., Warw., etc.). a1845Barham Ingoldsby Leg. Ser. iii. Brothers of Birchington lx, Father Richard..At once began coughing, and snifting, and sneezing. 1893Kipling Many Invent. 13 More steamers came along snorting and snifting at the buoys.
b. fig. (With after or at.)
1824Landor Imag. Conv., Bp. Burnet & Humphrey Hardcastle Wks. 1853 I. 46/2 It now appears that they were still snifting and hankering after their old quarters. 1824Spirit Public Jrnls. (1825) 304 He has seen ‘Life’, and dum vivimus vivamus is a motto not to be snifted at.
c. Of an engine, etc.: To blow out air or steam.
1865Smiles Lives Boulton & Watt 135 The machine snifted at many openings.
2. trans. To draw up by sniffing; to sniff the smell of. rare.
1736Ainsworth i, To snift up, mucum resorbere. 1796F. Burney Camilla iv. viii, I would sooner snift thy farthing candle once a day, than sustain that nasal cadence ever more. |