snob
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: snŏb
ipa: /snɒb/
enpr: snŏb
ipa: /snɑb/
rhymes: -ɒb
Forms: form: snobs
Etymology: Late 18th century dialectal English snob (“cobbler”), of unknown origin. Early senses of the word carried the meaning of "lower status"; it was then used to describe those seeking to imitate those of higher wealth or status. Folk etymology derives it from the Latin phrase sine nobilitate (“without nobility”), but early uses had no connection to this.
The modern sense was popularized by William Makepeace Thackeray in The Book of Snobs (1848).
Senses: examples: text: Proceed as a snob climbing the social ladder, namely, know the best people in the neighbourhood, then the best people they know. The end is not that of snobbery, but an eternal treasure.
ref: 1918, Walter Lionel George, A Novelist on Novels:
text: Outside of his own set he was considered rather a snob, but as his set was the set, it never worried him.
ref: 1920 September, F[rancis] Scott Fitzgerald, “The Four Fists”, in Flappers and Philosophers, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, →OCLC, page 249:
text: If wanting the best things in life means being a snob then glory hallelujah I'm a snob.
ref: 1958, Arnold Wesker, Roots:
glosses: A person who wishes to be seen as a member of the upper classes and who looks down on those perceived to have inferior or unrefined tastes.
examples: text: The snobs were also kind to him, and gave him a pair of boots which they assured him were of a type and quality reserved entirely for officers […]
ref: 1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 57:
glosses: A cobbler or shoemaker.
examples: text: 'D'ye know a slap-up sort of button, when you see it?' said the youth. 'Don't look at mine, if you ain't a judge, because these lions' heads was made for men of taste: not snobs.'
ref: 1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC:
text: I like better gin-and-water than claret. I like a sanded floor in Carnaby Market better than a chalked one in Mayfair. I prefer Snobs, I own it.
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 31, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
text: I tell you, sir, that I have a brain of my own, and that I should feel myself to be a snob and a slave if I did not use it.
ref: 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
glosses: A member of the lower classes; a commoner.
glosses: A workman who works for lower wages than his fellows, especially one who will not join a strike (a scab).
synonyms: cad
qualifier: Cambridge University
glosses: A townsman, as opposed to a gownsman.
Coordinate terms: posh
social climber
nouveau riche
Derived terms: snobbery
snobbism
snobbiness
snobbish
snobbishly
snobbishness
snobby
snob effect
snob value
Related terms: english: a social climber element has often existed with both terms' senses
translation: a social climber element has often existed with both terms' senses
word: hobnob