snickle

snickle noun: suppressed or sly laughter; snigger.

Noun (1)

snickle (plural snickles)

(dialectal) Suppressed or sly laughter; snigger.
- I undress while listening to the snickles on the other end.2011, Chandra Calton, You are welcomed: Just bring your heart, →ISBN, page 17
- The teacher heard laughter and snickles in his area so she went to check what was going on.2013, Mel Bergstresser, Humour For All Ages, Occasions, and Celebrations, →ISBN

snickle (third-person singular simple present snickles, present participle snickling, simple past and past participle snickled)

(dialectal, intransitive) To laugh at someone or something
- "many's de time w'at I sees um laughin' en laughin', w'en I lay dey ain't kin tell w'at dey er laughin' at deyse'f. En 'tain't der laughin' w'at pesters me, nudder" — relenting a little — "hit's dish yer ev'lastin' snickle en giggle, giggle en snickle."1881, Joel Chandler Harris, Mr. Benjamin Ram and His Wonderful Fiddle
- I put the phone down and snickled.2009, Kathryn Magendie, Tender Graces, →ISBN, page 217

snickle (plural snickles)

(dialectal) A noose or snare made using a slip knot.
- I carried the broth that poisoned the nuns, and he and I, snickle hand too fast, strangled a friar.1589, Christopher Marlowe:, The Jew of Malta
- The whole line of route abounds in gins, traps, snickles, and nets, for the money of Messieurs les Voyageurs in general, and that of Milor Anglais in particular.1829, Charles Joseph Latrobe, The Alpenstock Or Sketches of Swiss Scenary and Manners: 1825-1826

snickle (third-person singular simple present snickles, present participle snickling, simple past and past participle snickled)

(dialectal, transitive) To snare using a snickle.
- Whether Miriam was duly instructed on the subject of the per-centage usually required upon perisable subjects of commerce, or whether she though it right that the squire should be charged moderately for the carp taken from his own ponds, the pigeons furnished by his own dove-cote, the hares...1836, Samuel Carter Hall, Amulet, Or, Christian and Literary Remembrancer, page 126
- "Then where the devil can she have hidden herself?" replied the other, hutching up the two hares on his shoulder as he spoke, and which had but just been 'snickled.'1841, Thomas Miller, Gideon Giles, the Roper, page 118
(dialectal, transitive) To tie up or hang (something) using a rope around the neck.
- Well, well," said the governor, " mind what I say ; I stay in town just six weeks ; and if I don't see you both fairly snickled before I go, I'll never forgive either of you.1828, Charles Jenner, The Placid Man, Or, Memoirs of Sir Charles Beville, page 240
- He's snickled by futility.2002, William T Vollmann, Argall, →ISBN, page 355
(dialectal, transitive) To use (a rope) to tie or hang by the neck.
- I jumped out with a piece of thin chain, which I snickled round her neck, and pulled her aboard.1980, Sybil Marshall, Fenland Chronicle: Recollections of William Henry and Kate Mary Edwards collected and edited by their daughter, →ISBN, page 62

And she dissolved into another round of sniggers and snickles.2014, Burton W. Cole, Bash and the Chicken Coop Caper, →ISBN, page 77:
He snickled and told me, that he'll make that just for bringing me in.2015, Ursula Dianna, Layers of Velvet: This Is My Life, →ISBN:
Every urchin in the village of Haxey had been blamed, at one time or other, for the base machination of setting "snickles," or nooses of wire, in the tailor's little garden.1845, Wise Saws and Modern Instances, page 216:
Young Tommy, and young Plug are excused supplying snickles, because they know naff all about them, We will show them how to make one tomorrow, but I propose they bring double bread ration.2004, Marlene George, Your Life is Now!, →ISBN, page 46:

Noun
plural	snickles
Verb
third-person singular present	snickles
present participle	snickling
past participle	snickled
past	snickled

Variant of sniggle.

Unknown. Perhaps from sneck (“a latch; catch”) + -le (diminutive suffix). Compare snack (“to snap; click”), snatch.

What does snickle mean?: Snickle means suppressed or sly laughter; snigger.
How do you use snickle in a sentence?: And she dissolved into another round of sniggers and snickles.
What part of speech is snickle?: Snickle can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of snickle?: The plural of snickle is snickles.

Adapted from Wiktionary: snickle (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

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