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

See Examples For:

sneck

Some anglers are partial to the Kirby bend, but perhaps you get better hold of your fish with the sneck bend hooks.

From The Teesdale Angler by Lakeland, R.

Back went the girth buckles with a sneck, down came the stirrups, up went we, and off in the “twinkling of a goat’s eye.”

From The Scalp Hunters by Stewart, F.A.

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

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

At that time, every man had a 'new principle' of his own for the sneck of the shears, some theoretical mode of cutting, which was to make the coat fit like the skin.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 442 Volume 17, New Series, June 19, 1852 by Chambers, William