Word.ws English Dictionary

snaphance

snaphance noun: a spring lock for discharging a firearm.

Noun

snaphance (plural snaphances)

  1. A spring lock for discharging a firearm.
  2. The firearm to which it is attached.
  3. (obsolete) A trifling or second-rate thing or person.
    • [T]o make this realme a praye to al venturers, al ſpoylers, all ſnaphanſes, all forlornehopes, all cormerauntes, all reuenours of the worlde, that wyll inuade this realme, is to ſaye, thou poſſeſſyoner of any landes of this realme, of what degree ſo euer thou be, fro the higheſt to the loweſt...1539 April 9, Cuthbert Tunstall, A Sermon of Cuthbert Tonstall, Bishop of Durham, Preached on Palm Sunday, 1539, before King Henry VIII. […], London: […] [J. Compton, […]] for T[homas] Rodd, […]...
  4. (obsolete) A snappish retort.

Forms of snaphance

pluralsnaphances

Origin of snaphance

Dutch snaphaan (“a gun”), originally, the snapping cock of a gun. See snap and hen.

Questions about snaphance

What does snaphance mean?
Snaphance means a spring lock for discharging a firearm.
What part of speech is snaphance?
Snaphance is a noun.
What is the plural of snaphance?
The plural of snaphance is snaphances.

Words near snaphance in the dictionary

  1. snapes
  2. Snapewife
  3. Snapewives
  4. snaphaan
  5. snaphaans
  6. snaphance
  7. snaphances
  8. snaphaunce
  9. snaphaunces
  10. snaphead
  11. snapheads

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: snaphance (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.

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