snoot

plural snoots

1. informalAn elitist or snobbish person.

   The sidecars— sneer if you will, you purists and gastronomic snoots— at Perino's in Wilshire in Los Angeles.

   1943, Lucius Morris Beebe, Snoot if You Must, D. Appleton-Century Company, Incorporated, page 44

   3 more examples

   At first, I had no idea you had money, and you didn't seem like a snoot. The place where you were renting was a dumpy place. When you turned out to have money, I was surprised.

   1990 February 4, Vanessa Nemeth, Stephanie Poggi, “Bumps And All”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 12

   In defense of low-grade teas, I must say they are very cheap, and I have a large box in my cupboard right next to the higher quality, more snoot-worthy varieties.

   2013 October 29, Moosewood Collective, Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant: Ethnic and Regional Recipes from the Cooks at the Legendary Restaurant, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 96

   “Do you know any of Larry's other partners?” “Some.” “Do you know Mary Lou Goddard?” “Oh, that snoot.” “Snoot?” “Yes, Larry told me about her. He went out with her a couple of times and then she got possessive.”

   2014 January 31, Robert B Parker, Perish Twice, Oldcastle Books, →ISBN, page 73

   Synonyms: snooty

2. A language pedant or snob; one who practices linguistic elitism.

   There are lots of epithets for people like this—Grammar Nazis, Usage Nerds, Syntax Snobs, the Language Police. The term I was raised with is SNOOT.

   2001 April 28, David Foster Wallace, “Tense Present: Democracy, English, and the Wars over Usage”, in Harper’s Magazine, volume 302, number April 2001, page 41

3. derogatorydialectalslangA nose or snout.

   And then he did something which must be unprecedented in jurisprudence. He leaped from his chair, ran over to the old man, and shaking his fist under his nose, roared: 'Listen, you! If you keep on with this stuff, I'll punch you one in the snoot!

   [1966], Friedrich Reck, translated by Paul Rubens, Diary of a Man in Despair, New York Review of Books, →ISBN, page 173

   Synonyms: nose

4. InternetchildishhumorousSnout; especially of a dog ("doggo"), cat ("catto"), or snake ("snek").
5. artsA cylindrical or conical attachment used on a spotlight to restrict spill light.

   Snoots have traditionally been round in shape when attached to studio strobes, but with flash photography, they have taken on a more rectangular shape because the flash heads are rectangular.

   2014 December 26, Alyn Stafford, Flash Techniques for Location Portraiture: Single and Multiple-Flash Lighting Techniques, Amherst Media, →ISBN, page 36

present singular third person snoots · participle present snooting · participle past snooted · past snooted

1. To behave disdainfully toward someone.
2. transitiveartsTo apply a snoot attachment to (a light).

   Which might mean shaping it, gelling it, snooting it, barn dooring it, and putting it on a stand or a clamp. Maybe taking the dome diffuser off. Perhaps zooming it. Oh my. And you thought you were just taking a picture.

   2011, Joe McNally, Sketching Light