snuffing

Verb (1)

snuff (third-person singular simple present snuffs, present participle snuffing, simple past and past participle snuffed)

1. (transitive) To inhale through the nose.
   • He snuffs the wind, his heels the sand excite.1697, Virgil, “Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
2. (intransitive) To turn up the nose and inhale air, as an expression of contempt; hence, to take offense.
   • January 29, 1625, Joseph Hall, Public thanksgiving for the wonderful mitigation of the late morality
     Do the enemies of the church rage and snuff?
3. (Ireland, UK, obsolete, slang, transitive) To drug (a person) with a mixture of snuff and beer.

Verb (2)

snuff (third-person singular simple present snuffs, present participle snuffing, simple past and past participle snuffed)

1. To extinguish a candle or oil-lamp flame by covering the burning end of the wick until the flame is suffocated.
2. (obsolete) To trim the burnt part of a candle wick.
   • The dimness of the light her candle emitted made her turn to it in alarm; but there was no danger of its sudden extinction, it had yet some hours to burn; and that she might not have any greater difficulty in distinguishing the writing than what its ancient date might occasion, she hastily snuffed...1803 (date written), [Jane Austen], Northanger Abbey; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817...
3. (slang) To snuff out; to extinguish; to put out; to kill.
   • Too much of a coward to snuff myself
     Guess I'll just have to suffer myself1985, J. G. Thirlwell, “Enter the Exterminator”, in Nail, performed by Scraping Foetus Off the Wheel

See all 18 meanings of snuff