snout

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The long, projecting nose, mouth, and jaw of a beast, as of pigs.

   The pig rooted around in the dirt with its snout.

2. 2
   noun

   The front of the prow of a ship or boat.

   The dinghy was trailing astern at the end of its painter, and Merrion looked at it as he passed. He saw that it was a battered-looking affair of the prahm type, with a blunt snout, and like the parent ship, had recently been painted a vivid green.

3. 3
   noun

   A person's nose.

   His glasses kept slipping further down onto his prominent snout.

4. 4
   noun

   The nozzle of a pipe, hose, etc.

   If you place the snout right into the bucket, it won't spray as much.

Simplified etymology

Snout is an Old English word whose early senses covered various projecting facial parts, including an animal’s muzzle, an elephant’s trunk, and a bird’s beak. The later variant snoot, recorded in the mid-19th century, gave rise to snooty in the early 20th century.

From Middle English snowte, snout, snute, from Old English *snūt, *snūte or Middle Low German snûte, from Proto-West Germanic *snūt, from Proto-Germanic *snūtaz. Compare Saterland Frisian Snuute (“snout”), West Frisian snút (“snout”), Dutch snuit or snoet (“snout; cute face”), German Low German Snuut (“snout”), German Schnauze, Schnute (“snout”). Doublet of snoot.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary