snapper

plural snappers · alternative schnapper

1. One who, or that which, snaps.

   the snapper of a whip

   1 more example

   a snapper-up of bargains

2. Any of approximately 100 different species of fish.
   1. AustraliaNew ZealandThe fish Chrysophrys auratus, especially an adult of the species.

      Heigh-ho ye trawler men come on, forget the snapper and the prawn,

      1971, Harry Robertson, “Ballina Whalers” (lyrics)

   2. USAny of the family Lutjanidae of percoid fishes, especially the red snapper.
   3. USA small bluefish.
3. IrelandslangA (human) baby.

   I've known him since he was a little snapper.

   2004, Intelligent Systems, translated by Nintendo of America, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Nintendo, GameCube, level/area: Rogueport

4. American footballThe player who snaps the ball to start the play.
5. USSmall, paper-wrapped item containing a minute quantity of explosive composition coated on small bits of sand, which explodes noisily when thrown onto a hard surface.
6. slangOne who takes snaps; a photographer.

   The police snapper was on his tiptoes, angling for a vertical shot of the body.

   2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 22

7. USinformalThe snapping turtle.
8. The green woodpecker, or yaffle (Picus viridis).
9. A snap beetle (family Elateridae).
10. historicalA telegraphic device with a flexible metal tongue for producing clicks like those of the sounder.
11. obsoleteA percussive musical instrument consisting of a pair of items to be snapped together; castanet or bones.
12. UScolloquialA string bean.
13. slangThe vulva.

    At thirty-nine, her snapper was snapping at practically every man that appeared halfway decent and had a pulse.

    2004, Mary B. Morrison, Never Again Once More

    1 more example

    Then, get this, when we finished, she grabbed what looked like one of her husband's T-shirts, wiped her snapper, threw it into the back, […]

    2010, Phil Torcivia, Nice Meeting You

14. slangentertainmentA punchline.

    I don't want a pause before the snapper.

    1976, Larry Wilde, How the Great Comedy Writers Create Laughter, page 101

    2 more examples

    The end should always be a “snapper.” The punchline of a monologue is extremely important. Find a good one.

    2011, Judy Kerr, Acting is Everything

    In fact, he began the comic by coming up with the final panel, which he called “the snapper,” and worked backward.

    2018, Michelle Ann Abate, Funny Girls, page 55

15. UShistoricalgovernmentA supporter of Senator Hill's premature scheduling of the Democratic National Committee convention of 1892.

    Antonyms: anti-snapper

present singular third person snappers · participle present snappering · participle past snappered · past snappered

1. To stumble, to trip.
2. figurativelyTo fall into error; to make a mistake, and especially to stumble morally.

   A curate in specyall To snappar and to fall Into this opyn cryme

   c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 65, lines 141–143

plural snappers

1. ScotlandA stumble, a trip.
2. ScotlandAn error, a blunder, especially a moral slip-up.

1. A hamlet in Goodleigh parish, North Devon district, Devon, England (OS grid ref SS5934).