snaffle

/ˈsnæfəl/

snaffle noun: a broad-mouthed, loose-ringed bit (metal in a horse's mouth). It brings pressure to bear on the tongue and the corners of the mouth, and is often used as a training bit.

Noun

snaffle (plural snaffles)

A broad-mouthed, loose-ringed bit (metal in a horse's mouth). It brings pressure to bear on the tongue and the corners of the mouth, and is often used as a training bit.
- Captain went out in the cab all the morning. Harry came in after school to feed me and give me water. In the afternoon I was put into the cab. Jerry took as much pains to see if the collar and bridle fitted comfortably, as if he had been John Manly over again. When the crupper was let out a hole or...[1877], Anna Sewell, “A London Cab Horse”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part III, page 158
- “I shall have to take the mare to-morrow,” said the Tertium Quid, “and she will stand nothing heavier than a snaffle.”1889, Rudyard Kipling, “At the Pit's Mouth”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 54
(figuratively) Decorative wear that looks like a snaffle.
- Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke.[…]A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

Verb

snaffle (third-person singular simple present snaffles, present participle snaffling, simple past and past participle snaffled)

(transitive) To put a snaffle on, or control with a snaffle.
(broadly, figuratively, transitive) To quell or suppress.
- Julian Joolby, when will you learn to snaffle your violent emotion?1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
(transitive) To clutch by the bridle.
(informal, transitive) To grab or seize; to snap up.
- “That was my inspiration back in 2005,” he says, snaffling his third roll.2026 April 18, John Thornhill, “Lunch with the FT: Dario Amodei”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3
(informal, transitive) To purloin, or obtain by devious means.
- […] the Master at Arms, the senior member of the lower deck and chief policeman, was found to be drunk; he must have snaffled some of the crew's rum ration always kept closely guarded in a special locker […]2014, Geoffrey Bennett, The Battles of Coronel and the Falklands, 1914
(Norfolk, UK, archaic, intransitive) To talk foolishly.
- In Norfolk, "jaffle" is used in the sense of idle discourse, of an indecent or malicious character; and a prating busybody is said to be "always a snaffling and jafflin about what don't concern him."1855, Notes and Queries, volume 11, page 391

snaffle meaning in Malayalam and Punjabi

snaffle in Malayalam

steal, thieve, purloin: ചൂണ്ടുക, അനുവാദമില്ലാതെ എടുക്കുക, മോഷ്ടിക്കുക, കക്കുക, കളവു ചെയ്യുക, മോഷണം നടത്തുക

Examples of snaffle in a sentence

There was no bearing rein—no curb—nothing but a plain ring snaffle.[1877], Anna Sewell, “A London Cab Horse”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part III, page 158:
For many horses the best bit to use in the field is a plain snaffle, with very large rings, so that the bit cannot be pulled through the horse’s mouth.1912, Belle Beach, Riding and Driving for Women, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons:

All 11 example sentences with snaffle

Synonyms of snaffle

bradoon

Forms of snaffle

Noun
plural	snaffles
Verb
third-person singular present	snaffles
present participle	snaffling
past participle	snaffled
past	snaffled

Origin of snaffle

Apparently from Dutch snavel, from Middle Dutch snavel, snabel (“snout”), diminutive of Middle Dutch snabbe, snebbe (“bird's bill, neb”). Akin to Old Frisian snavel (“mouth”), Middle Low German snabbe (“neb, beak”), Old English nebb (“beak, bill, nose, face”). More at neb.

Words formed from snaffle

Words that rhyme with snaffle

Questions about snaffle

What does snaffle mean?: Snaffle means a broad-mouthed, loose-ringed bit (metal in a horse's mouth). It brings pressure to bear on the tongue and the corners of the mouth, and is often used as a training bit.
What is snaffle in Malayalam?: Snaffle in Malayalam is ചൂണ്ടുക, അനുവാദമില്ലാതെ എടുക്കുക, മോഷ്ടിക്കുക. See Snaffle meaning in Malayalam.
How do you use snaffle in a sentence?: There was no bearing rein—no curb—nothing but a plain ring snaffle.
What part of speech is snaffle?: Snaffle can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce snaffle?: Snaffle is pronounced /ˈsnæfəl/.
What is the plural of snaffle?: The plural of snaffle is snaffles.

Words near snaffle in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: snaffle (page history and authors); snaffle (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); ਲਗਾਮ (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-snaffle.wav.

Cite this entry: “snaffle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/snaffle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.