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

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Etymology

Origin of sneck¹

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

Origin of sneck²

1275–1325; Middle English; origin uncertain

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sneck

For one awful moment he paused, with a finger on the sneck; then he pressed the latch and entered.

From The Revellers by Louis Tracy

"And there's one thing to be observed," she added, "—that that door is the only one in all the passage that has a sneck, as they call it."

From Malcolm by George MacDonald

"What is a sneck?" asked his lordship, who was not much of a scholar in his country's tongue.

From Malcolm by George MacDonald

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 F.A. Stewart

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 John Hartley

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