snuff out
Extinguish, put a sudden end to, as in Three young lives were snuffed out in that automobile accident. This usage alludes to snuff in the sense of “put out a candle by pinching the wick,” an area itself called snuff from the late 1300s on. [Mid-1800s]
Words Nearby snuff out
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
How to use snuff out in a sentence
Pelosi and Reid will work to snuff out any legislation that could force Obama to take unpopular stands.
To snuff out a candle accidentally entails the fate of not getting married in the same year.
Notes and Queries for Worcestershire | John NoakeThe bookseller was moved: he took a huge pinch of snuff out of his waistcoat pocket, and mused a moment.
Night and Morning, Complete | Edward Bulwer-LyttonI snuff out the candles, on the supposition that this is perhaps a case of phosphorescence; but I never perceive anything.
Mysterious Psychic Forces | Camille FlammarionAs he now appeared in his doorway, towelling his hands, Wemmick got on his great-coat and stood by to snuff out the candles.
Great Expectations | Charles Dickens
I'd lash the beggar to a tree and leave him to snuff out for hisself.
The Boss of Taroomba | E. W. Hornung
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