Alpha stage software — under active development. Data may be incomplete or change without notice.

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US /snaɪp/
Freq #28806

Meanings

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Thesaurus

Forms snipes
Derived forms guttersnipejacksnipemuck-snipenerd-snipepainted-snipeseedsnipesnipebillsnipefishsnipelikesnipersnipeysnipingly

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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