sneck

¹ American  

[snek] / snɛk /

noun

Scot. and North England.

1. a door latch or its lever.

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sneck ² American  

[snek] / snɛk /

noun

1. a small stone, as a spall, inserted into the spaces between larger pieces of rubble in a wall.

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verb (used with object)

1. to fill (spaces between larger stones) with snecks.

sneck ¹ British  

/ snɛk /

noun

1. a small squared stone used in a rubble wall to fill spaces between stones of different height

2. dialect the latch or catch of a door or gate

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verb

1. dialect to fasten (a latch)

sneck ² British  

/ snɛk /

noun

1. a Scot word for snick

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Other Word Forms

• snecker noun

Etymology

Origin of sneck¹

1275–1325; Middle English snek ( k ); cf. snatch

Origin of sneck²

1275–1325; Middle English; origin uncertain

Example Sentences

He put down the sneck with his thumb and pushed in the door and followed.

From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Munro, Neil

What happened then was like the dismal sneck of the outside gate to Davy for ten years thereafter.

From Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon by Caine, Hall, Sir

"Why, the last fratch of all, when Wilson gat the sneck posset frae Shoulthwaite," said Matthew.

From The Shadow of a Crime A Cumbrian Romance by Caine, Hall, Sir

He pickt it up an lifted th' sneck,    Then gently oppen'd th' door, An thear wor Nancy an his bairns,    All huddled up o'th' flooar.

From Yorkshire Lyrics Poems written in the Dialect as Spoken in the West Riding of Yorkshire. To which are added a Selection of Fugitive Verses not in the Dialect by Hartley, John

"Good-night"--she felt as in a dream, where, wandering through subterranean passages, one door is shut noisily after another, and the sneck closes clatteringly--ever farther on into the deep abyss of night.

From Withered Leaves. Vol. I. (of III) A Novel by Gottschall, Rudolf von