snicker
verbEtymology US variant of the British snigger, possibly of onomatopoeic origin, similar to Dutch snikken (“to gasp; sob”). The noun is first recorded 1836, from the verb. Compare also Scottish smicker (“to smile or laugh in a sniggering or leery way, smirk”). More at smicker.
1
To emit a snicker, a stifled or broken laugh.
- I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker, / And in short, I was afraid.1915 June, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, in Prufrock and Other Observations, London: The Egoist […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 13:
2
To utter through a laugh of this kind.
3
Of a horse To whinny.
- Derived terms
- snickerer, snickeringly, snickery