snoot

English

Etymology

From Scots snoot, snout (“snout”), from Middle English snowte, from Middle Dutch snute; ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *snūt, from Proto-Germanic *snūtaz. Doublet of snout.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /snuːt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːt

Noun

snoot (plural snoots)

1. (informal) An elitist individual; one who looks down upon lower social classes.
   • 1943, Lucius Morris Beebe, Snoot if You Must‎^[1], D. Appleton-Century Company, Incorporated, page 44:

     The sidecars— sneer if you will, you purists and gastronomic snoots— at Perino's in Wilshire in Los Angeles.

   • 2013 October 29, Moosewood Collective, Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant: Ethnic and Regional Recipes from the Cooks at the Legendary Restaurant‎^[2], Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 96:

     In defense of low-grade teas, I must say they are very cheap, and I have a large box in my cupboard right next to the higher quality, more snoot-worthy varieties.

   • 2014 January 31, Robert B Parker, Perish Twice‎^[3], Oldcastle Books, →ISBN, page 73:

     “Do you know any of Larry's other partners?” “Some.” “Do you know Mary Lou Goddard?” “Oh, that snoot.” “Snoot?” “Yes, Larry told me about her. He went out with her a couple of times and then she got possessive.”

2. A language pedant or snob; one who practices linguistic elitism. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
3. (dialectal or slang) A nose or snout, especially in derogatory use.
   • 2013 March 3 [1966], Friedrich Reck, translated by Paul Rubens, Diary of a Man in Despair‎^[4], New York Review of Books, →ISBN, page 173:

     And then he did something which must be unprecedented in jurisprudence. He leaped from his chair, ran over to the old man, and shaking his fist under his nose, roared: 'Listen, you! If you keep on with this stuff, I'll punch you one in the snoot!

4. (Internet slang, childish, humorous) Snout; especially of a dog ("doggo"), cat ("catto"), or snake ("snek").
5. (theater, photography) A cylindrical or conical attachment used on a spotlight to restrict spill light.
   • 2014 December 26, Alyn Stafford, Flash Techniques for Location Portraiture: Single and Multiple-Flash Lighting Techniques‎^[5], Amherst Media, →ISBN, page 36:

     Snoots have traditionally been round in shape when attached to studio strobes, but with flash photography, they have taken on a more rectangular shape because the flash heads are rectangular.

Synonyms

• (nose): See Thesaurus:nose

Derived terms

• droop snoot

Related terms

• snootful
• snooty

Translations

slang: human nose — see schnozzle

theater: cylindrical or conical attachment on a spotlight

• Finnish: veitsi (fi)
• French: cône spot (fr) m
• Russian: тубус (ru) m (tubus)

Verb

snoot (third-person singular simple present snoots, present participle snooting, simple past and past participle snooted)

1. To behave disdainfully toward someone. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. (transitive, theater, photography) To apply a snoot attachment to (a light).
   • 2011, Joe McNally, Sketching Light:

     Which might mean shaping it, gelling it, snooting it, barn dooring it, and putting it on a stand or a clamp. Maybe taking the dome diffuser off. Perhaps zooming it. Oh my. And you thought you were just taking a picture.

Anagrams

• Notos, ONTOS, Ontos, Soton, oonts, tonos, toons

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

snoot

1. singular past indicative of snuiten

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English snowte. Cognate with English snout.

Noun

snoot (plural snoots)

1. (anatomy) snout, face, head
2. (geography) a projecting point of land
3. peak of a cap
4. (slang) detective, policeman

Derived terms

• snoot-cloot