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snark

¹

[snahrk]

|

noun

a mysterious, imaginary animal.

Origin of snark

¹

First recorded in 1876; coined by Lewis Carroll in his poem The Hunting of the Snark

snark

²

[snahrk]Slang.

verb (used without object)

to be critical in a rude or sarcastic way: to snark about the neighbors.

noun

rude or sarcastic criticism.

Origin of snark

²

1910–15; dial. snark ‘to nag, find fault with’; apparently identical with snark, snork ‘to snort, snore’, probably < Dutch, Low German snorken ‘to snore’

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for snark

Contemporary Examples of snark

But critiques and snark have no place, watching re-runs late at night.
Thank You for Being a Friend: Why TV Re-runs Never Grow Old
Tim Teeman
May 10, 2014
Jimmy Fallon's uncontainable glee is a welcome respite from late night's usual smarm and snark, but that's Fallon's thing.
Seth Meyers Gets Off to a Rocky Start on 'Late Night'
Kevin Fallon
February 25, 2014
For such searing, challenging dreams, we have only snark or smarm.
How to Fight for Freedom in 2014
James Poulos
December 29, 2013
That should knock the snark out of the precocious six-year old who wonders exactly how Santa knows all.
How Santa Hurts Christmas
Candida Moss
December 23, 2013
Joseph's snark was not confined to his Obama administration colleagues.
Exclusive: White House Official Fired for Tweeting Under Fake Name
Josh Rogin
October 23, 2013

Historical Examples of snark

By the thirtieth time it has become a word like "snark" or "pobble."
Alarms and Discursions
G. K. Chesterton
"Well, I'm going to hunt up that lawyer, Snark," affirmed Drake finally.
Garrison's Finish
W. B. M. Ferguson
It's excessively awkward to mention it now,With the Snark, so to speak, at the door!
The Best Nonsense Verses
Various
Don't call him the banker; it reminds me of The Hunting of the Snark.
The Twelfth Hour
Ada Leverson
As originally planned, the Snark was to be forty feet long on the water-line.
The Cruise of the Snark
Jack London

Word Origin and History for snark

n.

imaginary animal, coined 1876 by Lewis Carroll in "The Hunting of the Snark." In 1950s, name of a type of U.S. cruise missile and in 1980s of a type of sailboat. Meaning "caustic, opinionated, critical rhetoric" is from c.2002 (see snarky) and not directly related, if at all.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper