snarl

present singular third person snarls · participle present snarling · participle past snarled · past snarled

1. transitiveTo entangle; to complicate; to involve in knots.

   to snarl a skein of thread

   1 more example

   And from her backe her garments she did teare, / And from her head oft rent her snarled heare[…]

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 17

   Synonyms: ensnare, ensnarl, ravel, enmesh, ensnare, ensnarl, entangle, foul

2. intransitiveTo become entangled.
3. transitiveTo place in an embarrassing situation; to ensnare; to make overly complicated.

   November 9, 1550, Hugh Latimer, Sermon Preached at Stanford [the] question that they would have snarled him with

4. intransitivetransitiveTo be congested in traffic, or to make traffic congested.
5. To form raised work upon the outer surface of (thin metal ware) by the repercussion of a snarling iron upon the inner surface; to repoussé

plural snarls

1. A knot or complication of hair, thread, or the like, difficult to disentangle.

   His eye was alerted by a flutter of white seen through the snarl of branches between his stump and the Mere, and on looking more closely was surprised to see Mary sitting about a hundred yards below him on a mossy log, opposite the islet.

   1966, R. F. Delderfield, A Horseman Riding By, Open Road Media

   Synonyms: entanglement

2. An intricate complication; a problematic difficulty; a knotty or tangled situation.

   Bond grinned again as he thought of Damon's exasperation at having to dish out a lot of soft soap to Washington when he probably had plenty of other Anglo-American snarls to disentangle.

   1954, Ian Fleming, “True or False?”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 89

   Synonyms: imbroglio

3. A slow-moving traffic jam.

   The biggest cities feel the most acute impact of the last mile – of the squads of trucks and vans, the parcel hubs and sorting centres, the parking snarls and the discarded boxes.

   2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian

present singular third person snarls · participle present snarling · participle past snarled · past snarled

1. intransitiveTo growl angrily by gnashing or baring the teeth; to gnarl; to utter grumbling sounds.
2. transitiveTo complain angrily; to utter growlingly.
3. intransitiveTo speak crossly; to talk in rude, surly terms.

   It is malicious and unmanly to snarl at the little lapses of a pen, from which Virgil himself stands not exempted.

   1697, John Dryden, “Preface to the Pastorals, with a Short Defence of Virgil, against Some of the Reflections of Monsieur Fontanelle [i.e., Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle]”, in Virgil, translated by John Dryden, The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

plural snarls

1. The act of snarling; a growl; a surly or peevish expression; an angry contention.
2. A growl, for example that of an angry or surly dog, or similar; grumbling sounds.
3. A squabble.