- sniff
- [[t]snɪ̱f[/t]]
sniffs, sniffing, sniffed1) VERB When you sniff, you breathe in air through your nose hard enough to make a sound, for example when you are trying not to cry, or in order to show disapproval.
She wiped her face and sniffed loudly...
Moira looked around and sniffed. `This place badly needs a decorator.'...
Then he sniffed. There was a smell of burning...
[Vn with adv] He sniffed back the tears.
N-COUNTSniff is also a noun.At last the sobs ceased, to be replaced by sniffs.
2) VERB If you sniff something or sniff at it, you smell it by sniffing.[V n] Suddenly, he stopped and sniffed the air...
[V at n] She sniffed at it suspiciously.
3) VERB You can use sniff to indicate that someone says something in a way that shows their disapproval or contempt.[V with quote] `Tourists!' she sniffed.
4) VERB: usu passive, usu with brd-neg If you say that something is not to be sniffed at, you think it is very good or worth having. If someone sniffs at something, they do not think it is good enough, or they express their contempt for it.[be V-ed at] The salary was not to be sniffed at either...
[V at n] Only last weekend, Foreign Office sources sniffed at reports that up to 4,000 British troops might be sent.
Syn:5) VERB If someone sniffs a substance such as glue, they deliberately breathe in the substance or the gases from it as a drug.[V n] He felt light-headed, as if he'd sniffed glue.
Derived words:sniffer plural N-COUNT...teenage glue sniffers.
6) N-SING: usu N of n If you get a sniff of something, you learn or guess that it might be happening or might be near. [INFORMAL]You know what they'll be like if they get a sniff of a murder investigation...
Have the Press got a sniff yet?...
Then, at the first sniff of danger, he was back at his post.
Syn:whiff, hint7) N-SING: usu a N of, usu with brd-neg If you say that someone has not had a sniff of something, you mean that they have not had even a small chance of getting it. [INFORMAL]Winterton has never had a sniff of a government job in his entire twenty-one years in parliament.
Phrasal Verbs:
English dictionary. 2008.
