What is a synonym for "snift"?

Common synonyms include: olfact.

Snift

//snɪft// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A moment; a while. UK, countable, dialectal, obsolete, uncountable
"An' if thou'll make a shift effort To tak thi time a bit, owd lass, Thou's have him in a snift!"
2
A deliberate release of pressure and vapor, such as from a steam engine, or bottling equipment.
"The proper use of the air cock is, that after the engine is got steadily to work, and the snift emits no more than it should do, that the air cock should be opened as much as it can be to let the engine come fairly in, that is, for the piston to come fully down, and if it goes out in preference to that of coming in, the better."
3
A light dusting, as of snow. UK, dialectal, uncountable
"Good Lorjus, Meary ! theawrt so hasty; so I clum th' steeigh in o snift, shoavt th' awts eawt, an smackt me riddle oth' hoyle."

Verb

1
To sniff; to snort or snuff. dialectal
"[S]he, also, entered, and coming pretty close to my Father, snifted at her Flowers with a sort of extatic eagerness, and then let them fall."
2
To snivel.
3
To cause a snift; to release pressure and vapor, such as from a steam engine or bottling equipment.
"A cap and pipe should be put over the snifting clack, with an inch and a half cock upon it, by the partial opening of which the snifting can be regulated; but which will not be wanted , unless the valve should snift more than enough when it is left quite open , as it will be apt to do when all the preceding articles are put in execution."

"An' if thou'll make a shift effort To tak thi time a bit, owd lass, Thou's have him in a snift!"

Imitative. Compare Middle English snifteren (“to sniffle”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.