snapper

One who, or that which, snaps.

Noun

  1. One who, or that which, snaps.
    • a snapper-up of bargains
    • the snapper of a whip
  2. Any of approximately 100 different species of fish.
    • Heigh-ho ye trawler men come on, forget the snapper and the prawn, - 1971, Harry Robertson, “Ballina Whalers” (lyrics)

    1. (Australia, New Zealand) The fish Chrysophrys auratus, especially an adult of the species.

    2. (US) Any of the family Lutjanidae of percoid fishes, especially the red snapper.

    3. (US) A small bluefish.

  3. A (human) baby.
    • I've known him since he was a little snapper. - 2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport:
  4. The player who snaps the ball to start the play.
  5. Small, paper-wrapped item containing a minute quantity of explosive composition coated on small bits of sand, which explodes noisily when thrown onto a hard surface.
  6. One who takes snaps; a photographer.
    • The police snapper was on his tiptoes, angling for a vertical shot of the body. - 2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 22:
  7. The snapping turtle.
  8. The green woodpecker, or yaffle (Picus viridis).
  9. A snap beetle (family Elateridae).
  10. A telegraphic device with a flexible metal tongue for producing clicks like those of the sounder.
  11. A percussive musical instrument consisting of a pair of items to be snapped together; castanet or bones.
  12. A string bean.

Origin

Etymology tree Middle Dutch snappen Dutch snappenbor. Low German snappenbor. English snap Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English snapper From snap + -er.

Forms

snappers schnapper

Hyponyms

cockney red bream squire

Derived

black snapper Colorado snapper cubera snapper finger-snapper lane snapper long snapper mackerel snapper mahogany snapper mangrove snapper mutton snapper pink snapper rafter snapper red snapper snapper biscuit snapperhead snapper-upper snipper-snapper whippersnapper

Noun Scotland

  1. A stumble, a trip.
  2. An error, a blunder, especially a moral slip-up.

Origin

From Middle English snaperen, likely formed with the frequentative suffix -eren (Modern English -er). For the stem compare Norwegian Nynorsk snåva (“to stumble”), Swedish snäva (“to stumble”), obsolete German schnappen (“to totter, to limp”), Middle High German snaben, Middle Low German snaven (“to stumble”).

Forms

snappers

Verb

  1. To stumble, to trip.
  2. To fall into error; to make a mistake, and especially to stumble morally.
    • A curate in specyall To snappar and to fall Into this opyn cryme - c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 65,...

Forms

snappers snappering snappered