snigger meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

snigger

noun

US /ˈsnɪɡɚ/ · UK /ˈsnɪɡə(ɹ)/

Etymology British variant pronunciation and spelling of snicker.

Ireland, UK A partly suppressed or broken laugh.

Here the unfeeling Toad broke into a snigger, and then pulled himself together and tried to look particularly solemn.1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 255:

Ireland, UK A sly or snide laugh.

verb

Etymology British variant pronunciation and spelling of snicker.

Ireland, UK To emit a snigger.

[…]presently the Mole's spirits revived again, and he was even able to give some straight back-talk to a couple of moorhens who were sniggering to each other about his bedraggled appearance.1908 October, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, pages 21–22:
Peter, after the manner of man at the breakfast table, had allowed half his kedgeree to get cold and was sniggering over a letter. Sophia looked at him sharply. The only letter she had received was from her mother. Sophia's mother was not a humourist.1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

1 more example

That said, I still find it hard not to snigger when I hear [Travis] Kelce described as being the Kansas City Chiefs' tight end.2025 August 30, Jo Ellison, “Taylor Swift is entering her conservative era”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20: