snipe
pronunciation
How to pronounce snipe in British English:
UK [snaɪp]
How to pronounce snipe in American English:
US [snaɪp]
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- Noun:
- Old or New World straight-billed game bird of the sandpiper family; of marshy areas; similar to the woodcocks
- a gunshot from a concealed location
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- Verb:
- hunt or shoot snipe
- aim and shoot with great precision
- attack in speech or writing
Word Origin
- snipe (v.)
- "shoot from a hidden place," 1773 (among British soldiers in India), in reference to hunting snipe as game, from snipe (n.). Figurative use from 1892. Related: Sniped; sniping.
- snipe (n.)
- long-billed marsh bird, early 14c., from Old Norse -snipa in myrisnipa "moor snipe;" perhaps a common Germanic term (compare Old Saxon sneppa, Middle Dutch snippe, Dutch snip, Old High German snepfa, German Schnepfe "snipe," Swedish snäppa "sandpiper"), perhaps originally "snipper." The Old English name was snite, which is of uncertain derivation. An opprobrious term (see guttersnipe) since c. 1600.
Example
- 1. Both policies enrich the nation 's snipe hunters .
- 2. The tax code is filled with them - although not yet one for snipe hunting .
- 3. Imagine that there is some activity - say , snipe hunting - that members of congress want to encourage .
- 4. And because the government must balance its books , at least in the long run , the gains of the snipe hunters must come at the cost of higher taxes or lower government benefits for the rest of us .
- 5. Despite this week 's milestone , critics will continue to snipe that sir richard 's spaceship goes only to the edge of space and not into orbit .