Sny

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: snÄ«, IPA: /snaɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ
• UK enPR: snÄ«, IPA: /snʌɪ/

First attested in late Middle English; from the Middle English snyȝe ("creep"); liken Danish snige ("sneak"), Irish snighim Old Irish snaighim

Full definition of sny

Verb

1. (obsolete, rare, intransitive) move, proceed

First attested in 1674; its etymology is unknown.

Alternative forms

• α forms (pronounced with a terminal consonant) snithe (), snive ()
• β forms (pronounced ) snie, sny, snye
• γ forms (pronounced ) snee

Verb

1. (now dialectal, intransitive) abound, swarm, teem, be infested, with something.
• 1913, D. H. Lawrence, ,“And did you kill it?”
  “I did, for they’re a nuisance. The place is fair snied wi’ ‛em.”

First attested in 1711; its etymology is unknown; compare snying and the Danish sno ("to twine”, “to twist").

Noun

1. (shipbuilding) upward curving observed in the plank of a wooden ship or boat.
1. 1711 onward An upward curve at the edge of a plank.
2. circa 1850 onward An upward curve in the line of a wooden watercraft from amidships toward its bow and its stern.

First attested with this spelling in 1893; see snye.

Noun

1. Alternative spelling of snye
• 1893, Mark Twain, , and Other Stories (1896), page unknown“Well, Mars Tom, my idea is like dis. It ain’t no use, we can’t kill dem po’ strangers dat ain’t doin’ us no harm, till we’ve had practice — I knows it perfectly well, Mars Tom — ‛deed I knows it perfectly well. But ef we takes a’ ax or two, jist you en me en Huck, en slips acrost de river to-night arter de moon’s gone down, en kills dat sick fam’ly dat’s over on the Sny, en burns dey house down, en —”
• 1948, Lawrence Johnstone Burpee ed., (), volume 36, page 151The word snye, sny or snie has been used for many years to describe a channel behind an island, with slack current or partly dried, or some such similar feature.

Anagrams

• syn