Etymology From Middle Dutch snacken (“to snack”). Cognate with German schnäken (“to snack”).
1
A light meal.
2
An item of food eaten between meals.
Stay another fifteen minutes, in which we can have a snack of some kind in place of dinner.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries:
The numbers thin out the further we get from London, so I don't feel guilty when I remove my mask momentarily to scoff some of the snacks I'd bought at Marylebone.2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:
Up close, he was a total snack. “That was pretty slick.” “Well.” He cocked his head, “I'm a pretty slick guy.” “I'm Kevin,” I said. “Romeo,” he put out his hand. “You're kidding.”2008, Scott Sherman, First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery, Alyson Publications:
You were looking like a snack. I was looking like a snack. We were finally going to do what two snacks do... I immediately went into my routine. Covers on. Lights off. But you Mr. Tate...you softly grabbed my hand, kissed it, and turned the lights back on.2019, Loy A. Webb, The Light, Concord Theatricals, →ISBN, page 22:
1 more example
Her confusion amped up. But so did her attraction. He was a total snack.2020, Gena Showalter, Prince of Stone, HQN Books, →ISBN:
Etymology From Middle Dutch snacken (“to snack”). Cognate with German schnäken (“to snack”).
1
To eat a light meal.
Insult is added to injury when I see the West Coast Railways dining train at the adjacent platform, where guests are sat snacking and drinking wine at a very sociable distance.2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66:
All my demurrs but double his attacks; / At laſt he vvhiſpers, "Do; and vve go ſnacks."1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 4, lines 65–66:
"Have you exhibited very much?" said Young Person in the bar-parlour of the "Coach and Horses," where Mr Watkins was skilfully accumulating local information on the night of his arrival. / "Very little," said Mr Watkins, "just a snack here and there."1894 July 5, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Hammerpond Park Burglary”, in The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents, London: Methuen & Co. […], published 1895, →OCLC, pages 216–217:
snack
verb
Etymology See snatch (transitive verb). Ultimately of the same origin as the word under Etymology 1, but perhaps through a different source.