snipe

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A fool; a blockhead.

   For I mine own gained knowledge should profane,/ If I would time expend with such a snipe,/ But for my sport and profit.

2. 2
   verb

   To hunt snipe.

   The pleasures of Bay bird shooting should not be spoken of in the same sentence with cocking or sniping.

3. 3
   verb

   To watch a timed online auction and place a winning bid against (the current high bidder) at the last possible moment.

   I am the type who is liable to snipe you With two seconds left to go, whoa.

4. 4
   verb

   To move the ball quickly in a different direction.

   The breakthrough duly arrived after 35 minutes, an absolute beauty of a team goal scored by Lozano. First Khedira was robbed deep in the Mexico half. Hernández sniped away from Jérôme Boateng and Mats Hummels. A flurry of skimmed passes across the wide-open spaces of the Germany defence left Lozano in space in the area. With the stadium howling for him to shoot he cut inside Özil, who had tracked back to right-back, and buried the ball past Neuer.

From Middle English snipe, snype (a type of bird), from Old Norse snípa, as in mýrisnípa (“moor snipe”). Akin to Norwegian snipe. The verb originated in the 1770s among soldiers in British India where a hunter skilled enough to kill the elusive snipe was dubbed a "sniper". The term sniper was first attested in 1824 in the sense of the word "sharpshooter".

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