snootful

English

WOTD – 4 May 2012

Etymology

From snoot +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsnuːtfʊl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

Noun

snootful (plural snootfuls)

1. (informal) A noseful.
   • 1996, Gary Ferguson, The Yellowstone Wolves: The First Year:

     Suddenly the Soda Butte animals are getting great snootfuls of scent laid down over the past month by other wolves, which apparently leaves them with a certain longing for their own quiet, unsullied digs far to the northeast...

   • 2002, S. Wishnevsky, Quetzalsong, page 124:

     It took almost to noon, and quite a bit of slow, careful rolling, and more than a few snootfuls of seawater, but finally he was free.

   • 2009, Steve Berman, So Fey: Queer Fairy Fiction, page 229:

     Imps see pixies as uppity, giggly snobs, sniffing too many snootfuls of pollen.

2. (informal) A significant ingested quantity of an alcoholic beverage.
   • 1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 13, in Right Ho, Jeeves:

     Only active measures, promptly applied, can provide this poor, pusillanimous poop with the proper pep. And that is why, Jeeves, I intend tomorrow to secure a bottle of gin and lace his luncheon orange juice with it liberally. . . . The truth of the matter being that he is just a plain, ordinary poop and needs a snootful as badly as ever man did.

   • 1963 November 1, “Cartoonists: E's Luv'ly”, in Time:

     His bulbous nose glows whenever he has a snootful, which is nearly every night.

   • 1987 May 22, John Gross, "Books of the Times" (review of The Paris Edition by Waverley Root), New York Times (retrieved 1 Nov 2011):

     [H]e recalls most of his colleagues and their rough-and-tumble exploits. Spencer Bull, for instance, who was a good reporter with one weakness . . . "He lost the ability to distinguish between fact and fantasy when he had a snootful."

Derived terms

• have a snootful

Translations

noseful

• Finnish: nenän täydeltä, nenällinen

significant amount of ingested alcohol

• Finnish: kunnon hörppy
• German: sternhagelvoll (de)