|
In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
|
SNAP, v.t.
To break at once; to
break short, as substances that are brittle.
Breaks the doors open, snaps the locks. Prior. To strike, to hit, or to shut, with a sharp
sound.
To bite or seize suddenly, especially with
the teeth.
He, by playing too often at the mouth of death, has been snapped by it at last. South. To break upon suddenly with sharp, angry
words; to treat snappishly; -- usually with up.
Granville. To crack; to cause to make a sharp,
cracking noise; as, to snap a whip.
MacMorian snapped his fingers repeatedly. Sir W. Scott. To project with a snap.
To snap back (Football), to roll the
ball back with the foot; -- done only by the center rush, who thus
delivers the ball to the quarter back on his own side when both sides
are ranged in line. -- To snap off.
To
break short, or at once; to part asunder suddenly; as, a mast
snaps; a needle snaps.
But this weapon will snap short, unfaithful to the hand that employs it. Burke. To give forth, or produce, a sharp,
cracking noise; to crack; as, blazing firewood snaps.
To make an effort to bite; to aim to seize
with the teeth; to catch eagerly (at anything); -- often with
at; as, a dog snapsat a passenger; a fish snaps
at the bait.
To utter sharp, harsh, angry words; --
often with at; as, to snap at a child.
To miss fire; as, the gun
snapped.
A sudden breaking or rupture of any
substance.
A sudden, eager bite; a sudden seizing, or
effort to seize, as with the teeth.
A sudden, sharp motion or blow, as with the
finger sprung from the thumb, or the thumb from the finger.
A sharp, abrupt sound, as that made by the
crack of a whip; as, the snap of the trigger of a
gun.
A greedy fellow.
L'Estrange. That which is, or may be, snapped up;
something bitten off, seized, or obtained by a single quick movement;
hence, a bite, morsel, or fragment; a scrap.
He's a nimble fellow, A sudden severe interval or spell; --
applied to the weather; as, a cold snap.
Lowell. A small catch or fastening held or closed
by means of a spring, or one which closes with a snapping sound, as
the catch of a bracelet, necklace, clasp of a book, etc.
A snap
beetle.
A thin, crisp cake, usually small, and
flavored with ginger; -- used chiefly in the plural.
Briskness; vigor; energy; decision.
[Colloq.] Any circumstance out of which money may be
made or an advantage gained.
[Slang]
Snap back (Football), the act of snapping back the ball. -- Snap beetle, or Snap bug (Zoöl.), any beetle of the family Elateridæ, which, when laid on its back, is able to leap to a considerable height by means of a thoracic spring; -- called also snapping beetle. -- Snap flask (Molding), a flask for small work, having its sides separable and held together by latches, so that the flask may be removed from around the sand mold. -- Snap judgment, a judgment formed on the instant without deliberation. -- Snap lock, a lock shutting with a catch or snap. -- Snap riveting, riveting in which the rivets have snapheads formed by a die or swaging tool. -- Snap shot, a quick offhand shot, without deliberately taking aim. To
catch out sharply (a batsman who has just snicked a bowled
ball).
Of the eyes, to emit
sudden, brief sparkles like those of a snapping fire, as sometimes in
anger.
Any
task, labor, set of circumstances, or the like, that yields
satisfactory results or gives pleasure with little trouble or effort,
as an easy course of study, a job where work is light, a bargain,
etc.
[Slang, Chiefly U. S.] A snap shot with a firearm.
A snapshot.
Something of no value; as, not worth a
snap.
[Colloq.] Done, performed, made,
executed, carried through, or the like, quickly and without
deliberation; as, a snap judgment or decision; a snap
political convention.
[Colloq.] | ||||||||