Snifter
noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A sniff. Northern-England, Scotland
- 2 a globular glass with a small top; used for serving brandy wordnet
- 3 A strong or severe wind. Northern-England, Scotland, figuratively
- 4 A small, wide, pear-shaped glass used for drinking aromatic liquors such as bourbon and brandy. figuratively
"[H]e springs to another wooden vat and turns a valve, filling a snifter with a warm amber liquid. […] Bang holds the liquid up to the light, swirls it around, takes a sniff of the pungent bouquet, puts the glass to his lips—and gives a satisfied smile."
- 5 Synonym of nip (“a small amount of an alcoholic beverage, especially one equivalent to what a snifter (noun sense 2.2) might hold”) figuratively, informal
""Sit down, bo," invited Soup Face. "I guess you're a regular all right. Here, have a snifter?" and he pulled a flask from his side pocket, holding it toward The Oskaloosa Kid."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 Synonym of cocaine addict; a sniffer. US, figuratively, slang
- 7 A small amount of cocaine taken by inhaling through the nose. US, figuratively, slang
- 8 A handheld device used to detect signals from radio transmitters; a sniffer. US, figuratively, slang
- 1 To sniff; also, to snivel or snuffle. intransitive
"Brouffer. To ſnurt, or ſnifter vvith the noſe, like a horſe."
- 2 Followed by out: to speak (words) in a nasal, snuffling manner. archaic, rare, transitive
Example
More examples"Tom poured Mary a snifter full of brandy."
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English snifteren, snifter, snyfter (“to sniffle”), possibly from *snift (possibly derived from a Old Norse word—compare Old Danish snifte and Swedish snyfta (“to sniffle; to sob”); probably ultimately imitative) + -er- (frequentative suffix) + -en (suffix forming the infinitive of verbs). The noun is derived from the verb.
Related phrases
More for "snifter"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.