sny meaning (obsolete): definition, etymology and quotations

sny

verb

UK, US /snaɪ/ · UK /snʌɪ/

Etymology Of obscure origin. Likely from late Middle English sniȝen, snyȝen (“to creep”), from Old Danish *snigæ (whence modern Danish snige), from Old Norse sníkja (“to crawl, creep”). If so, doublet of sneak.

Obsolete, Rare To move, proceed.

sny

noun

Etymology First attested in 1711; its etymology is unknown; perhaps from Proto-Germanic *snōwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *sneh₁- (“to wind; twist; braid; plait”). Compare snying and the Danish sno (“to twine”, “to twist”).

› Upward curving observed in the planks of a…

Business, Manufacturing, Shipbuilding An upward curve at the edge of a plank.

Business, Manufacturing, Shipbuilding An upward curve in the lines of a wooden watercraft from amidships toward its bow and its stern.

sny

verb

Etymology First attested in 1674; its etymology is unknown.

Dialectal Abound, swarm, teem, be infested, with something

“And did you kill it?” “I did, for they’re a nuisance. The place is fair snied wi’ ‛em.”1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 4”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:

sny

noun

Etymology First attested with this spelling in 1893; see snye.

Archaic A small channel of water.

1893, Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer Abroad, Tom Sawyer, Detective and Other Stories (1896), page unknown “Well, Mars Tom, my idea is like dis. It ain’t no use, we can’t kill dem po’ strangers dat ain’t doin’ us no harm, till we’ve had practice — I knows it perfectly well, Mars Tom — ‛deed I knows it perfectly well. But ef we takes a’ ax or two, jist you en me en Huck, en slips acrost de river to-night arter de moon’s gone down, en kills dat sick fam’ly dat’s over on the Sny, en burns dey house down, en —”
The word snye, sny or snie has been used for many years to describe a channel behind an island, with slack current or partly dried, or some such similar feature.1948, Lawrence Johnstone Burpee, editor, Canadian Geographical Journal, volume 36, Royal Canadian Geographical Society, page 151:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.