Adjacent Words

Snag definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SNAG, n.
1. A short branch, or a sharp or rough branch; a shoot; a knot. The coat of arms now on a naked snag in triumph borne.
2. A tooth, in contempt; or a tooth projecting beyond the rest.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a sharp protuberance
2: a dead tree that is still standing, usually in an undisturbed forest; "a snag can provide food and a habitat for insects and birds"
3: an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart; "there was a rip in his pants"; "she had snags in her stockings" [syn: rip, rent, snag, split, tear]
4: an unforeseen obstacle [syn: hang-up, hitch, rub, snag] v
1: catch on a snag; "I snagged my stocking"
2: get by acting quickly and smartly; "snag a bargain"
3: hew jaggedly

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse snagi clothes peg Date: circa 1587 1. a. a tree or branch embedded in a lake or stream bed and constituting a hazard to navigation b. a standing dead tree 2. a rough sharp or jagged projecting part ; protuberance: as a. a projecting tooth; also a stump of a tooth b. one of the secondary branches of an antler 3. a concealed or unexpected difficulty or obstacle 4. a. a jagged tear made by or as if by catching on a snag b. an irregularity that suggests the result of tearing; especially a pulled thread in fabric <a snag in her stocking> • snaggy adjective II. transitive verb (snagged; snagging) Date: 1807 1. a. to catch and usually damage on or as if on a snag b. to halt or impede as if by catching on a snag 2. to hew, trim, or cut roughly or jaggedly 3. to clear (as a river) of snags 4. to catch or obtain usually by quick action or good fortune

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 an unexpected or hidden obstacle or drawback. 2 a jagged or projecting point or broken stump. 3 a tear in material etc. 4 a short tine of an antler. --v.tr. (snagged, snagging) 1 catch or tear on a snag. 2 clear (land, a waterway, a tree-trunk, etc.) of snags. 3 US catch or obtain by quick action. Derivatives: snagged adj. snaggy adj. Etymology: prob. f. Scand.: cf. Norw. dial. snag(e) sharp point 2. n. (usu. in pl.) Austral. sl. a sausage. Etymology: 20th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Snag Snag, n. [Prov. E., n., a lump on a tree where a branch has been cut off; v., to cut off the twigs and small branches from a tree, of Celtic origin; cf. Gael. snaigh, snaidh, to cut down, to prune, to sharpen, p. p. snaighte, snaidhte, cut off, lopped, Ir. snaigh a hewing, cutting.] 1. A stump or base of a branch that has been lopped off; a short branch, or a sharp or rough branch; a knot; a protuberance. The coat of arms Now on a naked snag in triumph borne. --Dryden. 2. A tooth projecting beyond the rest; contemptuously, a broken or decayed tooth. --Prior. 3. A tree, or a branch of a tree, fixed in the bottom of a river or other navigable water, and rising nearly or quite to the surface, by which boats are sometimes pierced and sunk. 4. (Zo["o]l.) One of the secondary branches of an antler.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Snag Snag, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Snagged; p. pr. & vb. n. Snagging.] 1. To cut the snags or branches from, as the stem of a tree; to hew roughly. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell. 2. To injure or destroy, as a steamboat or other vessel, by a snag, or projecting part of a sunken tree. [U. S.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(snags, snagging, snagged) 1. A snag is a small problem or disadvantage. A police clampdown on car thieves hit a snag when villains stole one of their cars... N-COUNT 2. If you snag part of your clothing on a sharp or rough object or if it snags, it gets caught on the object and tears. She snagged a heel on a root and tumbled to the ground... Brambles snagged his suit... Local fishermen's nets kept snagging on underwater objects. VERB: V n on n, V n, V on n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Knot, knarl, knob, projection, jag, protuberance, snub. 2. Tooth (in contempt). 3. Swaying trunk or branch of a tree (fixed at one end in a river).

Moby Thesaurus

baby tooth, bag, bar, bicuspid, blemish, block, blockade, bottleneck, brake, bucktooth, bug, canine, catch, clog, cog, comb, complication, coral heads, cordon, crack, crag, crimp, crown, crux, curb, curtain, cuspid, cutter, deciduous tooth, defect, defection, deficiency, dent, denticle, denticulation, dentil, dentition, determent, deterrent, difficulty, dogtooth, drag, drawback, enmesh, ensnare, entangle, entrap, eyetooth, failing, failure, fang, fault, faute, flaw, foible, fore tooth, foul, frailty, gagtooth, gang tooth, gold tooth, grinder, hamper, hang-up, harpoon, harrow, hazard, hindrance, hitch, hold-up, hole, hook, hurdle, impediment, imperfection, inadequacy, incisor, infirmity, ironbound coast, jag, joker, kink, land, lasso, ledges, lee shore, little problem, mesh, milk tooth, molar, nail, net, noose, objection, obstacle, obstruction, obstructive, one small difficulty, peak, pecten, peg, permanent tooth, pinch, pitfall, pivot tooth, premolar, problem, projection, quicksands, rake, ratchet, rift, rip, rockbound coast, rocks, rope, rub, sack, sandbank, sandbar, sands, sawtooth, scrivello, shallows, shoals, shortcoming, snaggle, snaggletooth, snare, sniggle, something missing, spear, spire, sprocket, spur, steeple, stricture, stumbling block, stumbling stone, taint, take, tangle, tangle up with, tear, tooth, trap, traverse, tush, tusk, undercurrent, undertow, vulnerable place, weak link, weak point, weakness, wisdom tooth