snoof
adjEtymology Probably coined by Galsworthy (see quotations).
1
Humorous, Nonstandard Having lost the sense of smell.
- Luckily, they're all ‘snoof’." "What?" said Michael […]. "It's a portmanteau syllable for 'Got no sense of smell to speak of.' And wanted, too. One says 'deaf,' 'blind,' 'dumb'—why not ‘snoof’?"1928, John Galsworthy, Swan Song (A Modern Comedy part 3):
- […] it means when a person lacks his sense of smell. I'm glad I'm not snoof.1946, Una Jeffers to Dorothy Brett, The Collected Letters Of Robinson Jeffers. With Selected Letters Of Una Jeffers, volume 3, Stanford, p. 410
2 more examples
- And the word "snoof" has been brought forth (by an analogy with "deaf") to describe someone who is devoid of, or deficient in, the sense of smell.1966, Monroe C. Beardsley, Thinking Straight; Principles of Reasoning for Readers and Writers, Prentice-Hall, page 292:
- My mother-in-law, Louise Field Cooper, used the word snoof to convey some of this meaning, as in “he has such a bad cold he's gone totally snoof.1994, Diana Starr Cooper, Night After Night, Island Press, page 127: