This week’s theme
Bird words

This week’s words
gannet
snipe
dodo
magpie
dotterel

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(snyp)

MEANING:

noun:
1. Any of various long-billed birds inhabiting marshy areas.
2. A shot from a concealed position.

verb intr.:
1. To shoot from a concealed position.
2. To criticize in a harsh and unfair way, especially anonymously.

ETYMOLOGY:

Probably of Scandinavian origin. The shooting sense comes from the practice of snipe hunting. Earliest documented use: 1325.

USAGE:

“When a Politico reporter asked last month how he endured constant sniping from his own party, Boehner said: ‘Garbage men get used to the smell of bad garbage. Prisoners learn how to become prisoners.’”
Doyle McManus; Boehner’s Happiest Moment; Los Angeles Times; Sep 27, 2015.

“A former Official IRA member described the attack as a reflex action: ‘Anybody who had planned a snipe from that position would have literally been taking his life in his hands.’”
Gary Kelly; Bloody Sunday Tribunal to Delay Legal Action Against McGuinness; Irish Examiner (Cork, Ireland); Nov 7, 2003.

See more usage examples of snipe in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: