Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The projecting nose, jaws, or anterior facial part of an animal's head.
  • noun A similar prolongation of the anterior portion of the head in certain insects, such as weevils; a rostrum.
  • noun A spout or nozzle shaped like such a projection.
  • noun Slang The human nose.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To furnish with a snout or nozle; point.
  • noun A part of the head which projects forward; the furthest part or fore end of the head; the nose, or nose and jaws, when protrusive; a proboscis; a muzzle; a beak, or beak-like part; a rostrum.
  • noun Specifically, in ichthyology, that part of the head which is in front of the eyes, ordinarily consisting of the jaws.
  • noun Anything that resembles the snout of a hog in shape or in being used for rooting or plowing up the ground.
  • noun In entomology:
  • noun The rostrum or beak of a rhynchophorons beetle or weevil. See snout-beetle and rostrum, and cuts under Balaninus and diamond-beetle.
  • noun A snout-like prolongation of, or formation on, the head of various other insects. See snout-butterfly, snout-mite, snout-moth.
  • noun The nozle or end of a hollow pipe.
  • noun Nautical, the beak or projecting prow of a ram.
  • noun The front of a glacier.
  • noun In conchology, the rostrum of a gastropod or similar mollusk.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The long, projecting nose of a beast, as of swine.
  • noun The nose of a man; -- in contempt.
  • noun The nozzle of a pipe, hose, etc.
  • noun The anterior prolongation of the head of a gastropod; -- called also rostrum.
  • noun The anterior prolongation of the head of weevils and allied beetles.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any one of many species of beetles having an elongated snout and belonging to the tribe Rhynchophora; a weevil.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any pyralid moth. See Pyralid.
  • transitive verb To furnish with a nozzle or point.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The long, projecting nose, mouth and jaw of a beast, as of pigs.
  • noun The nose of a man, (in contempt).
  • noun The nozzle of a pipe, hose, etc.
  • noun The anterior prolongation of the head of weevils and allied beetles; a rostrum.
  • noun The anterior prolongation of the head of a gastropod; a rostrum.
  • noun UK, slang Tobacco; cigarettes.
  • verb To furnish with a nozzle or point.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun beaklike projection of the anterior part of the head of certain insects such as e.g. weevils
  • noun informal terms for the nose
  • noun a long projecting or anterior elongation of an animal's head; especially the nose

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, probably of Old English origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Of Germanic origin; probably from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch snute. Compare Dutch snuit, German Schnauze.

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Examples

  • So can prison officers and staff - because the government are scared of violent reactions from people supposedly in the power of the State if 'snout' is taken away.

    Nanny State, Police State Laban 2006

  • It must be difficult to notice the odd £100,000 or so missing when your snout is buried so deeply in the trough.

    Archive 2008-01-01 Not a sheep 2008

  • With the musculature of these swine, an upward thrust of the snout is impressive with the "cutters" turned slightly outward, the results are most impressive!

    .270 vs. 2007

  • Like pigs, peccaries use a specialised rhinarial disk for rooting in soil and their snout is specialised for this behaviour.

    Archive 2006-08-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • First described for a partial snout from the Brazilian Santana Formation, Tupuxuara longicristatus Kellner & Campos, 1988 is a toothless Cretaceous pterosaur with a rather long, subtriangular skull.

    Those sexy tupuxuarids Darren Naish 2006

  • The narrow, pointed snout is better for getting the nostrils into small puddles and other bodies, and the vertical ridge at the front of the olfactory chamber seems to anchor a soft-tissue valve that prevents water from being snarfed deep into the olfactory chamber (as would happen with any normal tortoise, were it to try drinking like this).

    Archive 2006-02-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • First described for a partial snout from the Brazilian Santana Formation, Tupuxuara longicristatus Kellner & Campos, 1988 is a toothless Cretaceous pterosaur with a rather long, subtriangular skull.

    Archive 2006-11-01 Darren Naish 2006

  • Like pigs, peccaries use a specialised rhinarial disk for rooting in soil and their snout is specialised for this behaviour.

    Why putting your hand in a peccary’s mouth is a really bad idea Darren Naish 2006

  • Know then, that I have had a Barbet brought me from France, so exactly like the Sultan that he has been mistaken for him several times; only his snout is shorter, and his ears longer than the Sultan's.

    Letters to His Son on the Art of Becoming a Man of the World and a Gentleman, 1753-54 Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield 1733

  • Know then, that I have had a Barbet brought me from France, so exactly like the Sultan that he has been mistaken for him several times; only his snout is shorter, and his ears longer than the Sultan's.

    Complete Project Gutenberg Earl of Chesterfield Works Philip Dormer Stanhope Chesterfield 1733

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