1. (also snuff out) [transitiveT]STOP something THAT IS HAPPENING to stop a candleburning by pressing the burning part with your fingers or by covering it 掐灭,闷熄〔蜡烛〕
2.snuff itBritish EnglishBrE informalDIE to die 断气,死
Examples from the Corpus
snuff it• Also drowning himself or any other method of snuffing it.• If only the old man had snuffed it of naturalcauses, as he had seemed on the point of doing!
3.[intransitiveI, transitiveT]BREATHESMELL if an animal snuffs, it breathes air into its nose in a noisy way, especially in order to smell something 〔动物〕大声地嗅,闻〔味〕SYN sniff
snuff• Any hopes of a comeback by the Raiders were snuffed at the start of the second half.• But he was constantly snuffed out by City's engine-room battlers.• What was it all about when some one like Mac could be snuffed out, just like that?• Thompson took a fineball from Pugh after 12 minutes and again raced clear but Swansea's defencesnuffed out the danger.• How could anyone be so evil that they could snuff out the life of a young girl?• The breath was knocked out of him, the spellscattered and snuffed out.• Still, it took another gem, by third baseman Ken Caminiti, to snuff that threat.• The Cowboys had tried to snuff them.
snuff• They never said anything about snuff, silverweed and horse-racing.• She'd taxed him with trading them for snuff, which was his passion, and he'd not denied it.• The probably truth is that, like snuff, he regularly got up aristocratic noses.• But she dipped her thumb and forefinger into the bag and took out a pinch of snuff.• She took a pinch of snuff in her hand and sprinkled it over the notemurmuring something under her breath.• One of the mills still produces snuff.• I jumped up in fright and in the process knocked the snuff out of her hand.
snuff box• In his hands he holds a snuff box, shaped like a small quiver, and a thinstick.• Its use in the past included the manufacture of spoons and snuff boxes.• Many of Birmingham's population of artisans were occupied in producing trays and caddies, as well as snuff boxes for Virginia tobacco.
Originsnuff1
1. (1300-1400)snuff“burned part of a used candle”((14-19 centuries)).
2. (1500-1600)Dutchsnuffen“to sniff”
snuff2
(1600-1700)Dutchsnuf, from snuftabak, from snuffen ( → SNUFF1) + tabak“tobacco”