snipe

[snahyp] /snaɪp/

noun, plural snipes (especially collectively) snipe for 1, 2.

any of several long-billed game birds of the genera Gallinago (Capella) and Limnocryptes, inhabiting marshy areas, as G. gallinago (common snipe) of Eurasia and North America, having barred and striped white, brown, and black plumage.

any of several other long-billed birds, as some sandpipers.

a shot, usually from a hidden position.

verb (used without object), sniped, sniping.

to shoot or hunt snipe.

to shoot at individuals as opportunity offers from a concealed or distant position:

The enemy was sniping from the roofs.

to attack a person or a person's work with petulant or snide criticism, especially anonymously or from a safe distance.

Origin

1275-1325; Middle English snype (noun) < Old Norse -snīpa (in mȳrisnīpa moor snipe); cognate with Norwegian snipa, Icelandic snīpa; compare Danish sneppe, German Schnepfe

Related forms

snipelike, adjective

sniper, noun

countersniper, noun

Examples from the web for snipe

Other birds fly faster than the great snipe, but for shorter distances.
In the blogosphere, entrenched partisans regularly snipe at each other with ill-mannered fury.
Perhaps then you'll appreciate the snipe at ed teachers and ed students.
Critics may snipe that there is nothing uniquely non-profit about these traits.
There is one lizard and two waders, namely, a snipe and curlew.
The candidates snipe at each other's records almost daily.
It doesn't need to be used to snipe, it can cause injury enough to knock someone out of a political race or a industrial position.
Pan has yet to express any views except to snipe and snark at various and sundry commenters, primarily right-wingers.
In outdoor-advertising lingo, a snipe is any piece that is added to an existing billboard, covering part of it.
Hunting for goose, duck, coot and common snipe hunting is also permitted.

British Dictionary definitions for snipe

snipe

/snaɪp/

noun (pl) snipe, snipes

any of various birds of the genus Gallinago (or Capella) and related genera, such as G. gallinago (common or Wilson's snipe), of marshes and river banks, having a long straight bill: family Scolopacidae (sandpipers, etc), order Charadriiformes

any of various similar related birds, such as certain sandpipers and curlews

a shot, esp a gunshot, fired from a place of concealment

verb

when intr, often foll by at. to attack (a person or persons) with a rifle from a place of concealment

(intransitive) often foll by at. to criticize adversely a person or persons from a position of security

(intransitive) to hunt or shoot snipe

Derived Forms

snipelike, adjective

Word Origin

C14: from Old Norse snīpa; related to Old High German snepfa Middle Dutch snippe

Word Origin and History for snipe

long-billed marsh bird, early 14c., from Old Norse -snipa in myrisnipa "moor snipe;" perhaps a common Germanic term (cf. Old Saxon sneppa, Middle Dutch snippe, Dutch snip, Old High German snepfa, German Schnepfe "snipe," Swedish snäppa "sandpiper"), perhaps originally "snipper." The Old English name was snite, which is of uncertain derivation. An opprobrious term (cf. guttersnipe) since c.1600.

"shoot from a hidden place," 1773 (among British soldiers in India), in reference to hunting snipe as game, from snipe (n.). Figurative use from 1892. Related: Sniped; sniping.

Slang definitions & phrases for snipe

snipe

noun

A cigarette or cigar butt (1889+)
An en-gine-room hand, aircraft mechanic, or other below-decks crew member: ''Snipes'' service and maintain their flying crews' birds (1920+ Navy)

[origin obscure, although apparently these, along with several other slang uses, both British and US, all refer somehow to the long-billed bird and its habits]