snuff out
Idioms-
Extinguish, put a sudden end to, as in Three young lives were snuffed out in that automobile accident . This usage alludes to snuff in the sense of “put out a candle by pinching the wick,” an area itself called snuff from the late 1300s on. [Mid-1800s]
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Kill, murder, as in If he told the police, the gang would snuff him out . [ Slang ; first half of 1900s]
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Also, snuff it . Die or be killed, as in He looked very ill indeed, as though he might snuff out any day , or Grandpa just snuffed it . [ Slang ; second half of 1800s]
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
