sniff
Part of speech: verb
noun
intj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English sniffen, of imitative origin.
Inflected forms:
form: sniffs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: sniffing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: sniffed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: sniffed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: sniffs
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To make a short, audible inhalation, through the nose, as when smelling something.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: The dog sniffed around the park, searching for a nice scent.
I sniffed the meat to see whether it had gone off.
Carrot ran past him to get to the barrel first, and peered down at the cowering Catweazle. “No rats, Dad,” he said. “What's that terrible pong, then?” said Mr Bennett, sniffing.
gloss: To say (something) while sniffing, such as in case of illness or unhappiness, or in contempt.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: "He's never coming back, is he?" she sniffed while looking at a picture of him.
gloss: To perceive vaguely.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I don't know, of course, what your precious Radicals are planning to do, and I don't want to know; but I can sniff trouble in the air, nevertheless.
gloss: To pry; to investigate in an interfering manner.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: COOMBE: He got the clinch only last week — eighteen months. You see it's no good having anybody here as ain't got a^([sic]) unblemished character. We don't want to have the bluebottles come sniffing round here, do we?
gloss: To be dismissive or contemptuous of something; used with at.
pos: verb
examples: This opportunity is not to be sniffed at.
gloss: To intercept and analyse packets of data being transmitted over a network.
pos: verb
examples: packet sniffer
gloss: To inhale drugs (usually cocaine) through the nose, usually in powder form.
pos: verb
tags: UK
slang
examples: Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.
gloss: An instance of sniffing.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: She gave the flowers a quick sniff to check they were real.
gloss: A quantity of something that is inhaled through the nose.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: A brief perception, or tiny amount.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
countable
examples: Tottenham did have a sniff of goal when Defoe's drilled cross just eluded his strike partner at the far post but their best effort came early in the second half when Ryan Fredericks cut in from the right before firing into the side netting.
Telecoms firms want a sniff, having invested heavily in ultra-fast, low-latency 5G spectrum.
gloss: Cocaine.
pos: noun
tags: slang
uncountable
examples: He sold us some sniff and blow.
gloss: A toddler or young child.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
gloss: A short inhalation sound, sometimes associated with crying.
pos: intj
examples: a wild boar is laughing and Obelix is crying
Wild boar classified a protected species
First reaction from dismayed costumers:
“Boohoohoo! Sniff!”
Derived words: antisniffing
nothing to sniff at
re-sniff
sniff around
sniffingly
sniffing position
sniffing-the-morning-air position
sniffish
sniffle
sniff out
sniff up
snoof
sudden sniffing death syndrome
unsniffed
bell sniff
on the sniff
Translations: