Sny
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Upward curving observed in the planks of a wooden ship or boat.; An upward curve at the edge of a plank.
- 2 A small channel of water. archaic
"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 —”"
- 3 Initialism of sensitive needs yard (“part of a prison for prisoners who cannot safely be housed with the general population”). abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 4 Upward curving observed in the planks of a wooden ship or boat.; An upward curve in the lines of a wooden watercraft from amidships toward its bow and its stern.
- 1 To move, proceed. intransitive, obsolete, rare
- 2 Abound, swarm, teem, be infested, with something dialectal, intransitive
"“And did you kill it?” “I did, for they’re a nuisance. The place is fair snied wi’ ‛em.”"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"“And did you kill it?” “I did, for they’re a nuisance. The place is fair snied wi’ ‛em.”"
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.
First attested in 1674; its etymology is unknown.
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”).
First attested with this spelling in 1893; see snye.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.