Meanings
present singular third person snitches · participle present snitching · participle past snitched · past snitched
plural snitches
- UKslangA nose.
‘Yes, I’m a witch! I wiggle my snitch![...]’
1994, Christine Marion Fraser, Noble Beginnings, HarperCollins, →ISBN, page 745 more examples
'Yah, I wouldn't git a second-'and dress at a pawnbroker's!' 'Garn!' said Liza indignantly. 'I'll swipe yer over the snitch if yer talk ter me. [...] "
1897, W.S. Maugham, Liza of Lambeth, chapter 1He added in conclusion that he strongly disliked the police coming and sticking its nose into his affairs and, since the horror which such actions inspired in him was not far from making him wish to vomit, he extracted from his pocket a silken square of the colour of the lilac flower (the one that isn’t white) but impregnated with Barbouze, the Fior perfume, and with it dabbed his snitch.
1960, Barbara Wright (tr.), Zazie in the metro, Penguin Classics, translation of Zazie dans le métro by Raymond Queneau, published 2001, →ISBN, page 96On one level clearly emblematic of her class status, “she’d have really looked down her snitch at me”), Virginia Woolf's nose, both Bennett and his audience would know, signifies as well the far more frightening power, the phallic power, attributed to women, strong women in particular.
1978, Brenda R. Silver, quoting Alan Bennett, Virginia Woolf icon, University of Chicago Press, published 1999, →ISBN, Take Seven: British Graffiti: Me ,I'm Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Sammy And Rosie Get Laid, page 158Bluenoze: Blow your nose to clear your snitch of whatever it is you've been snorting and read the postings again.
1999 September 27, "billy", “Re: Babies Having Babies”, in uk.media.tv.misc (Usenet)Question: do benign bacteria live in one's snitch and keep the other, nastier ones at bay ?
1999 March 26, G Greenway, “Re: aah-cho!!”, in alt.gothic (Usenet)Synonyms: schnozz
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo inform on someone, especially in betrayal of others.
verbTo steal, quickly and quietly.
nounA thief.
nounAn informer, one who betrays their group.
nounA nose.
More synonyms by meaning
nounsomeone acting as an informer or decoy for the police
verbgive away information about somebody
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Englishsnīcan“to creep; crawl”
- Middle Englishsniken
- Middle Englishsnacche“a trap, snare”
- Englishsnitch
Origin uncertain. Perhaps an alteration of Middle English snacche (“a trap, snare”), snacchen (“to seize (prey)”, whence modern English snatch). Compare also Middle English snik snak (“a sudden blow, snap”). Alternatively, perhaps from a dialectal variant of sneak, from Middle English sniken, from Old English snīcan (“to creep; crawl”). More at sneak, snatch.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian доноснича, крада
- доноснича (donosniča)inform on
- крада (krada)steal
- краде́ц (kradéc)thief
- доно́сник (donósnik)informer, one who betrays his group
- доно́сница (donósnica)informer, one who betrays his group
- доно́сничка (donósnička)informer, one who betrays his group
Catalan espieta
- espietainformer, one who betrays his group
Chinese Mandarin 告密, 打小報告 /打小报告
- 告密 (gàomì)inform on
- 打小報告 /打小报告 (dǎ xiǎobàogào)inform on
Czech prásknout, práskat
- prásknoutinform on
- práskatinform on
- bonznoutinform on
- bonzovatinform on
- donášetinform on
- práskatcontact or cooperate with the police
- donášetcontact or cooperate with the police
- otočitsteal
- šlohnoutsteal
- čmajznoutsteal
- štípnoutsteal
- čórnoutsteal
- práskačinformer, one who betrays his group
- bonzákinformer, one who betrays his group
- udavačinformer, one who betrays his group
- donašečinformer, one who betrays his group
Danish stikke, sladre
- stikkeinform on
- sladreinform on
- tyvthief
- tyveknægtthief
- stikkerinformer, one who betrays his group
- forræderinformer, one who betrays his group
Dutch verlinken, verklikken
- verlinkeninform on
- verklikkeninform on
- verklikkencontact or cooperate with the police
- gappensteal
- verklikkerinformer, one who betrays his group
Esperanto stukaĉo
- stukaĉothief
Finnish kieliä, vasikoida
- kieliäinform on
- vasikoidainform on
- kannellainform on
- laulaainform on
- laverrellainform on
- vasikoidacontact or cooperate with the police
- ilmiantaacontact or cooperate with the police
- varastaasteal
- pihistäästeal
- kähveltäästeal
- pölliästeal
- varasthief
- vorothief
- kähveltäjäthief
- vasikkainformer, one who betrays his group
- ilmiantajainformer, one who betrays his group
- kantelupukkiinformer, one who betrays his group
French balancer, moucharder
- balancerinform on
- mouchardercontact or cooperate with the police
- piquersteal
- volersteal
- voleurthief
- voleusethief
- balanceinformer, one who betrays his group
- délateurinformer, one who betrays his group
- informateurinformer, one who betrays his group
- indicateurinformer, one who betrays his group
- indicinformer, one who betrays his group
- dénonciateurinformer, one who betrays his group
- mouchardinformer, one who betrays his group
German petzen, verpetzen
- petzeninform on
- verpetzeninform on
- verpfeifeninform on
- Spitzeldienste verrichtencontact or cooperate with the police
- Spitzeldienste erledigencontact or cooperate with the police
- klauensteal
- stibitzensteal
- Diebthief
- Langfingerthief
- Spitzelinformer, one who betrays his group
- Informantinformer, one who betrays his group
- Verräterinformer, one who betrays his group
Hebrew הלשין, מַלְשִׁין
- הלשין (hilshín)inform on
- מַלְשִׁין (malshín)informer, one who betrays his group
- שְׁטִינְקֶר (shtínker)informer, one who betrays his group
Hungarian besúgó, spicli
- besúgóinformer, one who betrays his group
- spicliinformer, one who betrays his group
- vamzerinformer, one who betrays his group
Indonesian kutil, util
- kutilsteal
- utilsteal
Italian informare, fare la spia
- informareinform on
- fare la spiainform on
- fare la soffiatainform on
- sgraffignaresteal
- grattaresteal
- rubaresteal
- pentitoinformer, one who betrays his group
- traditoreinformer, one who betrays his group
- spiainformer, one who betrays his group
- delatoreinformer, one who betrays his group
Norwegian sladre, tyste
- sladreinform on
- tysteinform on
Norwegian Bokmål sladrehank, tyster
- sladrehankinformer, one who betrays his group
- tysterinformer, one who betrays his group
Polish złodziej, złodziejka
- złodziejthief
- złodziejkathief
- donosicielinformer, one who betrays his group
- kapuśinformer, one who betrays his group
- nochalnose
- kinolnose
Portuguese delatar, dedurar
- delatarinform on
- dedurarinform on
- xisnovarinform on
- chibarinform on
- afanarsteal
- dedo-duroinformer, one who betrays his group
- chiboinformer, one who betrays his group
Russian нашёптывать, нашепта́ть
- нашёптывать (našóptyvatʹ)inform on
- нашепта́ть (našeptátʹ)inform on
- стучать (stučatʹ)contact or cooperate with the police
- доносить (donositʹ)contact or cooperate with the police
- стащить (staščitʹ)steal
- вор (vor)thief
- воро́вка (voróvka)thief
- ворю́га (vorjúga)thief
- вори́шка (voríška)thief
- доно́счик (donósčik)informer, one who betrays his group
- доно́счица (donósčica)informer, one who betrays his group
- стука́ч (stukáč)informer, one who betrays his group
- стука́чка (stukáčka)informer, one who betrays his group
- я́беда (jábeda)informer, one who betrays his group
- нос (nos)nose
- шно́бель (šnóbelʹ)nose
- руби́льник (rubílʹnik)nose
Spanish chivarse, chivatear
- chivarseinform on
- chivatearinform on
- delatarinform on
- chivatoinformer, one who betrays his group
- soplóninformer, one who betrays his group
- delatorinformer, one who betrays his group
- delatadorinformer, one who betrays his group
- sapoinformer, one who betrays his group
- alcaucilinformer, one who betrays his group
- cuenteroinformer, one who betrays his group
- hocicóninformer, one who betrays his group
- correveidileinformer, one who betrays his group
- gacetillainformer, one who betrays his group
Swedish skvallra, tjalla
- skvallrainform on
- tjallainform on
- golainform on
- tjallacontact or cooperate with the police
- golacontact or cooperate with the police
- snosteal
- snattasteal
- knyckasteal
- snattarethief
- tjallareinformer, one who betrays his group
- skvallerbyttainformer, one who betrays his group
- golareinformer, one who betrays his group
Ukrainian зло́дій, зло́дійка
- зло́дій (zlódij)thief
- зло́дійка (zlódijka)thief
- краді́й (kradíj)thief
- краді́йка (kradíjka)thief
- доно́щик (donóščyk)informer, one who betrays his group
- доно́щиця (donóščycja)informer, one who betrays his group
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with snitch
Cite this entry
snitch. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snitch
“snitch.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snitch. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “snitch,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/snitch.
Source: snitch on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.