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snub

[snuhb]
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verb (used with object), snubbed, snub·bing.
  1. to treat with disdain or contempt, especially by ignoring.
  2. to check or reject with a sharp rebuke or remark.
  3. to check or stop suddenly (a rope or cable that is running out).
  4. to check (a boat, an unbroken horse, etc.) by means of a rope or line made fast to a fixed object.
  5. to pull up or stop abruptly in such a manner.
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noun
  1. an act or instance of snubbing.
  2. an affront, slight, or rebuff.
  3. a sudden check given to a rope or cable running out, a moving boat, or the like.
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adjective
  1. (of the nose) short and turned up at the tip.
  2. blunt.
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Origin of snub

1300–50; Middle English snubben < Old Norse snubba to scold, reprimand; cognate with Middle Low German snūben
Related formssnub·ber, nounsnub·bing·ly, adverbun·snubbed, adjective

Synonyms

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1. slight. 2. stop, reprove, reprimand.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for snubbing

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • It is you're the ruffian to him, snubbing him when he speaks good-naturedly to you.

  • "I don't see that there was any call for snubbing," he retorted angrily.

    Peak and Prairie

    Anna Fuller

  • "I know just how Phil feels about papa's snubbing," she said to me.

    We Ten

    Lyda Farrington Kraus

  • She had a phrase for snubbing any anecdote that sounded improbable.

    The Children

    Alice Meynell

  • He never could resist the temptation of bantering and snubbing them.

    Lord John Russell

    Stuart J. Reid

British Dictionary definitions for snubbing

snub

verb snubs, snubbing or snubbed (tr)
  1. to insult (someone) deliberately
  2. to stop or check the motion of (a boat, horse, etc) by taking turns of a rope or cable around a post or other fixed object
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noun
  1. a deliberately insulting act or remark
  2. nautical
    1. an elastic shock absorber attached to a mooring line
    2. (as modifier)a snub rope
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adjective
  1. short and bluntSee also snub-nosed
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Derived Formssnubber, nounsnubby, adjective

Word Origin

C14: from Old Norse snubba to scold; related to Norwegian, Swedish dialect snubba to cut short, Danish snubbe
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for snubbing

snub

v.

mid-14c., "to check, reprove, rebuke," from Old Norse snubba "to curse, chide, snub, scold, reprove." The ground sense is perhaps "to cut off," and the word probably is related to snip. Cf. Swedish snobba "lop off, snuff (a candle)," Old Norse snubbotr "snubbed, nipped, with the tip cut off." Meaning "treat coldly" appeared early 18c. Related: Snubbed; snubbing.

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snub

adj.

"short and turned up," 1725, in snub-nosed, from snub (v.). The connecting notion is of being "cut short."

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snub

n.

"rebuke, intentional slight," 1530s, from snub (v.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper