snuffy

American  

[snuhf-ee] / ˈsnʌf i /

adjective

snuffier, snuffiest

1. resembling snuff.

2. soiled with snuff.

3. given to the use of snuff.

4. having an unpleasant appearance.

5. having hurt feelings.

6. easily displeased.

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snuffy British  

/ ˈsnʌfɪ /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling snuff

2. covered with or smelling of snuff

3. unpleasant; disagreeable

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Other Word Forms

• snuffiness noun

Etymology

Origin of snuffy

First recorded in 1780–90; snuff ¹ + -y ¹

Example Sentences

Born in 1885, in a grimy coal-mining village in Nottingham shire, Lawrence soon grew, as he himself said, into "a delicate pale brat with a snuffy nose" who "trotted after his mother like a shadow."

From Time Magazine Archive

Never mind what I said; it’s better than being a reader, and growing into a snuffy cantankerous old scarecrow like me.

From The Story of Antony Grace by Fenn, George Manville

I should not forget, however, my acquaintance with a snuffy little librarian, who showed me the manuscripts of Tasso and Ariosto, with much amusing importance.

From Pencillings by the Way Written During Some Years of Residence and Travel in Europe by Willis, N. Parker

French literature, according to Madame de St. Honor�, was in one snuffy volume which she happened to possess.

From Old Kensington by Thackeray, Miss

"I hav notin to say wit him more," and he took a huge pinch of snuff, and wasted a deal on his snuffy waistcoat and shirt frill.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 368, June 1846 by Various