A photograph, especially one taken quickly or in a sudden moment of opportunity.
He carried a snapshot of his daughter.
2
A glimpse of something; a portrayal of something at a moment in time.
The article offered a snapshot of life in that region.
I hope you've enjoyed reading this series. As usual, it's just a snapshot because there's so much to say but only so many words can make it into print.2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 70:
3
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A file or set of files captured at a particular time, often capable of being reloaded to restore the earlier state.
This game is so hard that I find myself taking a snapshot every few seconds in case I get killed.
Yet Revell misjudged his promising position in the area to put his point-blank snapshot wide from only six yards out.2011 March 2, Chris Whyatt, “Arsenal 5 - 0 Leyton Orient”, in BBC:
How quick the eye and hand to catch him [the ruffed grouse] when he rises from the underbrush and is out of sight in the wood before the untrained sportsman stops him with what is little more than a snapshot, so instantaneously must all be done!1892, Stanley Waterloo, A Man and a Woman:
As he did not appear disposed to move off, I took my camera and approached within about thirty yards, when I snapshotted him.1904, David T Hanbury, Sport and Travel in the Northland of Canada:
Filer appliances also offer programmatic snapshotting and cloning at the block-level or file system-level.2007, David E. Irwin, An Operating System Architecture for Networked Server Infrastructure, page 30: