snib

American  

[snib] / snɪb /

noun

1. a bolt, catch, lock, or fastening on a door or window.

2. the catch that holds the bolt on a lock.

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verb (used with object)

snibbed, snibbing

1. to bolt or fasten (a door or window).

snib British  

/ snɪb /

noun

1. the bolt or fastening of a door, window, etc

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verb

1. to bolt or fasten (a door)

Etymology

Origin of snib

First recorded in 1800–10; of uncertain origin; perhaps from Low German snibbe ( German Schnippe ), Swedish snibb “beak, point”

Example Sentences

Monica closed it gently down, and fastened the snib.

From Beyond the City by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

Mr. Bolton, after his interview with the woman, would of course snib the window, and pull down the blind.

From The Green Mummy by Hume, Fergus

The snib was an old one, and he yanked a piece of string round it, and passed the string through the crack between the upper and lower sash of the window.

From The Green Mummy by Hume, Fergus

There is another sn which may perhaps be derived from the Latin sinuo, as snake, sneak, snail, snare; so likewise snap and snatch, snib, snub.

From A Grammar of the English Tongue by Johnson, Samuel

Tommy said nothing, but—but one of the school-windows was without a snib, and next morning when the dominie reached his desk he was surprised to find on it a little cotton glove.

From Sentimental Tommy The Story of His Boyhood by Barrie, J. M. (James Matthew)