snitch
nounEtymology Origin uncertain. Perhaps an alteration of Middle English snacche (“a trap, snare”), snacchen (“to seize (prey)”, whence modern English snatch). Compare also Middle English snik snak (“a sudden blow, snap”). Alternatively, perhaps from a dialectal variant of sneak, from Middle English sniken, from Old English snīcan (“to creep; crawl”). More at sneak, snatch.
1
Slang A thief.
2
Slang An informer, one who betrays their group.
- 'Yah, I wouldn't git a second-'and dress at a pawnbroker's!' 'Garn!' said Liza indignantly. 'I'll swipe yer over the snitch if yer talk ter me. [...] "1897, W.S. Maugham, Liza of Lambeth, chapter 1:
- He added in conclusion that he strongly disliked the police coming and sticking its nose into his affairs and, since the horror which such actions inspired in him was not far from making him wish to vomit, he extracted from his pocket a silken square of the colour of the lilac flower (the one that isn’t white) but impregnated with Barbouze, the Fior perfume, and with it dabbed his snitch.1960, Barbara Wright (tr.), Zazie in the metro, Penguin Classics, translation of Zazie dans le métro by Raymond Queneau, published 2001, →ISBN, page 96:
4 more examples
- On one level clearly emblematic of her class status, “she’d have really looked down her snitch at me”), Virginia Woolf's nose, both Bennett and his audience would know, signifies as well the far more frightening power, the phallic power, attributed to women, strong women in particular.1978, Brenda R. Silver, quoting Alan Bennett, Virginia Woolf icon, University of Chicago Press, published 1999, →ISBN, Take Seven: British Graffiti: Me ,I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Sammy And Rosie Get Laid, page 158:
- ‘Yes, I’m a witch! I wiggle my snitch![...]’1994, Christine Marion Fraser, Noble Beginnings, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 74:
- Bluenoze: Blow your nose to clear your snitch of whatever it is you've been snorting and read the postings again.1999 September 27, "billy", “Re: Babies Having Babies”, in uk.media.tv.misc (Usenet):
- Question: do benign bacteria live in one's snitch and keep the other, nastier ones at bay ?1999 March 26, G Greenway, “Re: aah-cho!!”, in alt.gothic (Usenet):
4
A tiny morsel.
- "He pays for the food you eat," said the woman. "Yeah," said the boy. "And I earn every snitch doing everything ever gets done around here."1963, Jack Schaefer, Monte Walsh, page 3:
5
A ball used in the sport of Quidditch: the Golden Snitch.