snag

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsnæɡ/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -æɡ

Etymology 1

Of North Germanic origin, ultimately from Old Norse snagi (clothes peg). Compare Norwegian snag, snage (protrusion; projecting point), Icelandic snagi (peg).

Noun

snag (plural snags)

  1. A stump or base of a branch that has been lopped off; a short branch, or a sharp or rough branch; a knot; a protuberance.
    • Dryden
      The coat of arms / Now on a naked snag in triumph borne.
  2. Any sharp protuberant part of an object, which may catch, scratch, or tear other objects brought into contact with it.
  3. A tooth projecting beyond the others; a broken or decayed tooth.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Prior to this entry?)
  4. A tree, or a branch of a tree, fixed in the bottom of a river or other navigable water, and rising nearly or quite to the surface, by which boats are sometimes pierced and sunk.
  5. (figuratively) A problem or difficulty with something.
  6. A pulled thread or yarn, as in cloth.
  7. One of the secondary branches of an antler.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

snag (third-person singular simple present snags, present participle snagging, simple past and past participle snagged)

  1. To catch or tear (e.g. fabric) upon a rough surface or projection.
    Be careful not to snag your stockings on that concrete bench!
  2. To damage or sink (a vessel) by collision; said of a tree or branch fixed to the bottom of a navigable body of water and partially submerged or rising to just beneath the surface.
    The steamboat was snagged on the Mississippi River in 1862.
  3. (fishing) To fish by means of dragging a large hook or hooks on a line, intending to impale the body (rather than the mouth) of the target.
    We snagged for spoonbill from the eastern shore of the Mississippi River.
  4. (slang) To obtain or pick up (something).
    Ella snagged a bottle of water from the fridge before leaving for her jog.
  5. (slang) To stealthily steal with legerdemain prowess (something).
    The smiling little girl snagged her phone while performing a dance; but now was far-off among the crowd.
  6. (Britain, dialectal) To cut the snags or branches from, as the stem of a tree; to hew roughly.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)
Translations

Etymology 2

The Australian National Dictionary Centre suggests that snag as slang for "sausage" most likely derives from the earlier British slang for "light meal", although it makes no comment on how it came to be specifically applied to sausages.Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms The word's use in football slang originates as a shortening of "snag roll" (i.e., sausage roll), which is rhyming slang for "goal".

Noun

snag (plural snags)

  1. (Britain, dialectal, obsolete) A light meal.
  2. (Australia, informal, colloquial) A sausage. [From 1937.]
    • 2005, Peter Docker, Someone Else′s Country, 2010, ReadHowYouWant, page 116,
      I fire up the barbie and start cooking snags.
    • 2007, Jim Ford, Don't Worry, Be Happy: Beijing to Bombay with a Backpack, page 196,
      ‘You can get the chooks and snags from the fridge if you want,’ he replied.
      I smiled, remembering my bewilderment upon receiving exactly the same command at my very first barbecue back in Sydney a month after I′d first arrived.
    • 2010, Fiona Wallace, Sense and Celebrity, page 25,
      ‘Hungry? We′ve got plenty of roo,’ one of the men said as she walked up. He pointed with his spatula, ‘and pig snags, cow snags, beef and chicken.’
  3. (Australian rules football, slang) A goal.
    • 2003, Greg Baum, "Silver anniversary of a goal achieved", The Age
      "It just kept coming down and I just kept putting them through the middle," he said. "I got an opportunity, and I kicked a few snags."
Synonyms
Translations

See also

  • Appendix:Australian rhyming slang
  • Appendix:Australian rules football slang

Noun

snag (plural snags)

  1. A misnaged, an opponent to Chassidic Judaism (more likely modern, for cultural reasons).

Anagrams


Irish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /sˠn̪ˠaɡ/

Noun

snag m (genitive singular snaga, nominative plural snaganna)

  1. a catch (hesitation in voice), gasp, sob
  2. a lull (period of rest)
Declension
Derived terms

Noun

snag m (genitive singular snaga, nominative plural snaganna)

  1. a treecreeper (bird of the family Certhiidae)
    Synonym: beangán
  2. goby (fish)
    Synonym: mac siobháin
Declension
Derived terms

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
snag shnag
after an, tsnag
not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

  • "snag" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
  • Entries containing “snag” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
  • Entries containing “snag” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.

Scottish Gaelic

Noun

snag f (genitive singular snaige, plural snagan)

  1. sharp knock (sound)

Derived terms

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
RadicalLenition
snagshnag
after "an", t-snag
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.
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