sneeze

[sneez] /sniz/
verb (used without object), sneezed, sneezing.
1.
to emit air or breath suddenly, forcibly, and audibly through the nose and mouth by involuntary, spasmodic action.
noun
2.
an act or sound of sneezing.
Verb phrases
3.
sneeze at, Informal. to treat with contempt; scorn:
$50,000 is nothing to sneeze at.
Origin
1485-95; earlier snese; replacing Middle English fnese, Old English fnēosan; cognate with Dutch fniezen, Old Norse fnȳsa
Related forms
sneezeless, adjective
sneezer, noun
sneezy, adjective
Examples from the web for sneeze
  • There's also the less common photic sneeze, where exposure to a flash of light causes an uncontrollable sneezing fit.
  • If you can't stifle a cough or sneeze in a tissue quickly enough, sneeze into the crook of your elbow.
  • However, the animals are easy to find in a rainstorm, since their upturned noses catch water and cause them to sneeze.
  • That's not to say the science behind the counter is anything to sneeze at.
  • When everybody is armed with cyber-nukes, nobody better sneeze.
  • If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your elbow.
  • He was surrounded by servants who did everything for him but sneeze.
  • But next to this belief, another faith accepts the power of a cacique who can sneeze three times and become invisible.
  • Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze.
  • If you don't have a tissue, cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve or elbow, not your hands.
British Dictionary definitions for sneeze

sneeze

/sniːz/
verb
1.
(intransitive) to expel air and nasal secretions from the nose involuntarily, esp as the result of irritation of the nasal mucous membrane
noun
2.
the act or sound of sneezing
Derived Forms
sneezeless, adjective
sneezer, noun
sneezy, adjective
Word Origin
Old English fnēosan (unattested); related to Old Norse fnӯsa, Middle High German fnūsen, Greek pneuma breath
Word Origin and History for sneeze
v.

late 15c., from Old English fneosan "to snort, sneeze," from Proto-Germanic *fneusanan (cf. Middle Dutch fniesen, Dutch fniezen "to sneeze;" Old Norse fnysa "to snort;" Old Norse hnjosa, Swedish nysa "to sneeze;" Old High German niosan, German niesen "to sneeze"), from Proto-Germanic base *fneu-s- "sneeze," of imitative origin, as is PIE *pneu- "to breathe" (cf. Greek pnein "to breathe").

Other imitative words for it, perhaps in various ways related to each other, include Latin sternuere (cf. Italian starnutare, French éternuer, Spanish estornudar), Breton strevia, Sanskrit ksu-, Lithuanian čiaudeti, Polish kichać, Russian čichat'.

English forms in sn- might be due to a misreading of the uncommon fn- (represented in only eight words in Clark Hall, mostly in words to do with breathing), or from Norse influence. OED suggests Middle English fnese had been reduced to simple nese by early 15c., and sneeze is a "strengthened form" of this, "assisted by its phonetic appropriateness." Related: Sneezed; sneezing. To sneeze at "to regard as of little value" (usually with negative) is attested from 1806.

n.

"act of sneezing," 1640s, from sneeze (v.).

sneeze in Medicine

sneeze (snēz)
v. sneezed, sneez·ing, sneez·es
To expel air forcibly from the mouth and nose in an explosive, spasmodic involuntary action resulting chiefly from irritation of the nasal mucous membrane. n.
The act or an instance of sneezing.