n. [ Cf. D. snap a snatching. See Snap, v. t. ] 1. A sudden breaking or rupture of any substance. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A sudden, eager bite; a sudden seizing, or effort to seize, as with the teeth. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A sudden, sharp motion or blow, as with the finger sprung from the thumb, or the thumb from the finger. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A sharp, abrupt sound, as that made by the crack of a whip; as, the snap of the trigger of a gun. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A greedy fellow. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. That which is, or may be, snapped up; something bitten off, seized, or obtained by a single quick movement; hence, a bite, morsel, or fragment; a scrap. [ 1913 Webster ]

He's a nimble fellow,
And alike skilled in every liberal science,
As having certain snaps of all. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A sudden severe interval or spell; -- applied to the weather; as, a cold snap. Lowell. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. A small catch or fastening held or closed by means of a spring, or one which closes with a snapping sound, as the catch of a bracelet, necklace, clasp of a book, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Zool.) A snap beetle. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. A thin, crisp cake, usually small, and flavored with ginger; -- used chiefly in the plural. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. Briskness; vigor; energy; decision. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

12. Any circumstance out of which money may be made or an advantage gained. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

13. Any task, labor, set of circumstances, or the like, that yields satisfactory results or gives pleasure with little trouble or effort, as an easy course of study, a job where work is light, a bargain, etc. [ Slang, Chiefly U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

14. A snap shot with a firearm. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

15. (Photog.) A snapshot. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

16. Something of no value; as, not worth a snap. [ Colloq. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

17. (Football) The action of snapping the ball back, from the center usu. to the quarterback, which commences the play (down), and, if the clock had stopped, restarts the timer clock; a snap back. [ PJC ]

Snap back (Football), the act of snapping back the ball. --
Snap beetle, or
Snap bug (Zool.), any beetle of the family Elateridae, which, when laid on its back, is able to leap to a considerable height by means of a thoracic spring; -- called also snapping beetle. --
Snap flask (Molding), a flask for small work, having its sides separable and held together by latches, so that the flask may be removed from around the sand mold. --
Snap judgment, a judgment formed on the instant without deliberation. --
Snap lock, a lock shutting with a catch or snap. --
Snap riveting, riveting in which the rivets have snapheads formed by a die or swaging tool. --
Snap shot, a quick offhand shot, without deliberately taking aim. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Snapped p. pr. & vb. n. Snapping. ] [ LG. or D. snappen to snap up, to snatch; akin to G. schnappen, MHG. snaben, Dan. snappe, and to D. snavel beak, bill. Cf. Neb, Snaffle, n. ] 1. To break at once; to break short, as substances that are brittle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Breaks the doors open, snaps the locks. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To strike, to hit, or to shut, with a sharp sound. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To bite or seize suddenly, especially with the teeth. [ 1913 Webster ]

He, by playing too often at the mouth of death, has been snapped by it at last. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To break upon suddenly with sharp, angry words; to treat snappishly; -- usually with up. Granville. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To crack; to cause to make a sharp, cracking noise; as, to snap a whip. [ 1913 Webster ]

MacMorian snapped his fingers repeatedly. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To project with a snap. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Cricket) To catch out sharply (a batsman who has just snicked a bowled ball). [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

To snap back (Football), to roll the ball back with the foot; -- done only by the center rush, who thus delivers the ball to the quarter back on his own side when both sides are ranged in line. --
To snap off. (a) To break suddenly. (b) To bite off suddenly. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To break short, or at once; to part asunder suddenly; as, a mast snaps; a needle snaps. [ 1913 Webster ]

But this weapon will snap short, unfaithful to the hand that employs it. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To give forth, or produce, a sharp, cracking noise; to crack; as, blazing firewood snaps. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make an effort to bite; to aim to seize with the teeth; to catch eagerly (at anything); -- often with at; as, a dog snapsat a passenger; a fish snaps at the bait. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To utter sharp, harsh, angry words; -- often with at; as, to snap at a child. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To miss fire; as, the gun snapped. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. Of the eyes, to emit sudden, brief sparkles like those of a snapping fire, as sometimes in anger. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. Done, performed, made, executed, carried through, or the like, quickly and without deliberation; as, a snap judgment or decision; a snap political convention. [ Colloq. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. 1. (Bot.) (a) Any plant of the scrrophulariaceous genus Antirrhinum, especially the cultivated Antirrhinum majus, whose showy flowers are fancifully likened to the face of a dragon. (b) A West Indian herb (Ruellia tuberosa) with curiously shaped blue flowers. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A play in which raisins are snatched from a vessel containing burning brandy, and eaten; also, that which is so eaten. See Flapdragon. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. (Shipbuilding) To bevel the end of a timber to fit against an inclined surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ D. snaphaan a gun, originally, the snapping cock of a gun. See Snap, and Hen. ] 1. A spring lock for discharging a firearm; also, the firearm to which it is attached. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A trifling or second-rate thing or person. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A hemispherical or rounded head to a rivet or bolt; also, a swaging tool with a cavity in its face for forming such a rounded head. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, snaps; as, a snapper up of trifles; the snapper of a whip. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) Any one of several species of large sparoid food fishes of the genus Lutjanus, abundant on the southern coasts of the United States and on both coasts of tropical America. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The red snapper (Lutjanus aya syn. Lutjanus Blackfordi) and the gray, or mangrove, snapper (Lutjanus griseus) are large and abundant species. The name is loosely applied to various other fishes, as the bluefish, the rosefish, the red grouper, etc. See Rosefish. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) A snapping turtle; as, the alligator snapper. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Zool.) The green woodpecker, or yaffle. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) A snap beetle. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Teleg.) A device with a flexible metal tongue for producing clicks like those of the sounder. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

7. A string bean. [ Colloq., U. S. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. & n. from Snap, v. [ 1913 Webster ]

Snapping beetle. (Zool.) See Snap beetle, under Snap. --
Snapping turtle. (Zool.) (a) A large and voracious aquatic turtle (Chelydra serpentina) common in the fresh waters of the United States; -- so called from its habit of seizing its prey by a snap of its jaws. Called also mud turtle. (b) See Alligator snapper, under Alligator. [ 1913 Webster ]