sniffer
/ˈsnɪfə
/noun
1A person who sniffs something: a glue sniffer...
- Most sniffers give up glue in favour of alcohol or other drugs when they can afford to.
- That petrol was certainly not taken to fuel their company cars, it was to feed their addictions as petrol sniffers, about which our Prime Minister has learned only in the last few weeks.
- In the end they just give up and they go and sniff petrol, and so that sort of neo-colonial, ethno-centric attitude of ‘we'll educate the kids and change the cultural group’ is creating the next generation of petrol sniffers out there.
1.1 informal A device for detecting an invisible and dangerous substance, such as gas or radiation.Well I don't know whether an electronic sniffer counts as nanotechnology but it does seem to be ever so adept at picking up infinitesimally small particles - in food....
- Automated mechanical sniffers could be fitted with this detection system on every baggage handling chute.
- Those tested have their hand wiped with a piece of paper, then placed under an electronic drug sniffer.
2 informal A person’s nose: she bounced a dictionary off my sniffer...
- But they can deliver substantial benefits in situations where, given the choice, we'd prefer not to use our own sniffers.
- In that moment I am glad my sniffer snuffs poorly.
3 (also sniffer program) trademark A computer program that detects and records a variety of restricted information, especially the secret passwords needed to gain access to files or networks.Having a static network address will slow down the hacker, although he or she can still get on your network using a sniffer program....
- Intruders may also install network sniffers and other monitoring programs in hopes of capturing information which will allow them to access other hosts.
- The most widespread software-based method of obtaining passwords and other confidential information is through sniffer and watcher programs that monitor network traffic.
