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snuff

 
Dictionary: snuff1   (snŭf) pronunciation
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v., snuffed, snuff·ing, snuffs.

v.tr.
  1. To inhale (something) audibly through the nose; sniff.
  2. To sense or examine by smelling; sniff at.
v.intr.
To sniff; inhale.

n.
The act of snuffing or the sound produced by it; a snuffle.

[Middle English snoffen, to snuff a candle, sniffle, probably from snoffe, snuff. See snuff2.]


snuff2 (snŭf) pronunciation
n.
The charred portion of a candlewick.

tr.v., snuffed, snuff·ing, snuffs.
  1. To extinguish: snuffed out the candles.
  2. To put a sudden end to: lives that were snuffed out by car accidents.
  3. Slang. To kill; murder.
  4. To cut off the charred portion of (a candlewick).

[Middle English snoffe, possibly of Low German origin.]


snuff3 (snŭf) pronunciation
n.
    1. A preparation of finely pulverized tobacco that can be drawn up into the nostrils by inhaling. Also called smokeless tobacco.
    2. The quantity of this tobacco that is inhaled at a single time; a pinch.
  2. A powdery substance, such as a medicine, taken by inhaling.
intr.v., snuffed, snuff·ing, snuffs.
To use or inhale snuff.

idiom:

up to snuff Informal.

  1. Normal in health.
  2. Up to standard; adequate.

[Dutch snuf, short for snuftabak : Dutch snuffen, to sniff; see snuffle + tabak, tobacco.]


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Thesaurus: snuff
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also snuff out

verb

    To perceive with the olfactory sense: nose, scent, smell, sniff, whiff. Idioms: catchgeta whiff of. See smells/good smells/bad smells/smell.

phrasal verb - snuff out

  1. To cause to stop burning or giving light: douse, extinguish, put out, quench. See continue/stop/pause.
  2. To destroy all traces of: abolish, annihilate, blot out, clear, eradicate, erase, exterminate, extinguish, extirpate, kill1, liquidate, obliterate, remove, root1 (out or up), rub out, stamp out, uproot, wipe out. Idioms: do away with, make an end of, put an end to. See help/harm/harmless, make/unmake.

Idioms: snuff
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In addition to the idiom beginning with snuff, also see up to par (snuff).

Antonyms: snuff
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v

Definition: extinguish
Antonyms: ignite, light

US Government Guide: snuff
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Before the Civil War, snuff (tobacco finely ground for inhaling) became so popular among senators that the Senate set a large silver urn, a vaselike container, of snuff on the Vice President's desk. But in 1850 Vice President Millard Fillmore complained, “I cannot understand what is going on in the Senate on account of the conversation of Senators who come here to get a pinch of snuff.” The urn was replaced with two small black-lacquered boxes, located on the ledges just behind and on either side of the Vice President's desk. If you look carefully from the gallery, you can still see these snuffboxes. For tradition's sake the boxes are kept filled, even though senators long ago stopped taking snuff.

Sources

  • Robert Rienow and Leona Train Rienow, Snuff, Sin & the Senate (Chicago: Follett, 1965)
 
Columbia Encyclopedia: snuff
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snuff, preparation of pulverized tobacco used by sniffing it into the nostrils, chewing it, or placing it between the gums and the cheek. The blended tobacco from which it is made is often aged for two or three years, fermented at least twice, ground, and usually flavored and scented. In pre-Columbian times, snuff was used in the West Indies, in Mexico, and in parts of South America. Adoption of the practice in Europe was encouraged by belief in its medicinal virtue. From Europe the custom was carried to the Middle East and Asia. The highest status of snuff taking was attained in the 18th cent., when it was practiced by both men and women. The richly ornamented snuffboxes of the time are now esteemed by collectors. A ritual of taking snuff developed, with prescribed ways of tapping and opening the box and offering it to others. Later the practice of dipping snuff into the mouth with a stick or brush, or of inserting it between the cheek and gums, largely replaced sniffing it into the nostrils.

Wikipedia: Snuff
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For other uses, see Snuff (disambiguation).
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Tins of British Nasal Tobacco

Snuff is ground or pulverized tobacco, which is generally inhaled or "snuffed" through the nose. It is a type of smokeless tobacco. There are several types, but traditionally it means Dry/European nasal snuff. In the United States, "snuff" can also refer to dipping tobacco, which is applied to the gums rather than inhaled.

Contents

Types

European (dry) snuff

The Monk of Calais (1780) by Angelica Kauffmann, depicting Pastor Yorick exchanging snuffboxes with Father Lorenzo "..having a horn snuff box in his hand, he presented it open to me.--You shall taste mine--said I, pulling out my box and putting it into his hand." From Laurence Sterne's A Sentimental Journey.

Dry snuff, or European snuff is usually scented or flavored and is intended to be sniffed through the nose. Typical flavors are floral, mentholated (also called 'medicated'), fruit, and spice, either pure or in blends. Other common flavors include:

Modern Flavors

Apart from flavors, dry snuff also comes in a range of texture and moistness, from very fine to coarse, and from toast (very dry) to very moist. Often drier snuffs are ground finer.

Moist

A tin of Copenhagen American dipping tobacco.
Main article: Dipping tobacco

Moist snuff is called snuff or dip in the U.S. in contrast to the aforementioned dry snuff, which was perceived to be a European, particularly British and French, habit[citation needed]. In truth, it originates, and is still produced and used, in Europe. It tends to be applied to the gums, rather than sniffed. Called dipping tobacco, it is similar to snus, a Swedish tobacco product, and it is possible that this type of snuff originated in Sweden or Scandinavia[citation needed]. American snuff comes in many varieties, with flavours including peach, mint, and licorice. Dipping tobacco is distinct from chewing tobacco.

In India, creamy snuff is a paste consisting of tobacco, clove oil, glycerin, spearmint, menthol, and camphor sold in a toothpaste tube. It is marketed mainly to women in India and is known by the brand names Ipco (made by Asha Industries), Denobac, Tona, Ganesh.

Accessories

Main article: Decorative boxes#Snuff box
Main article: Snuff bottle

When snuff taking was fashionable, the manufacture of snuff accessories was a lucrative industry in several cultures. In Europe, snuff boxes ranged from those made in very basic materials, such as horn, to highly ornate designs featuring precious materials made using state of the art techniques. Large snuff containers, called mulls, were usually kept on the table.

A floral-scented snuff called "English Rose" is provided for members of the British House of Commons at public expense due to smoking in the House being banned since 1693[1].A famous silver communal snuff box kept at the entrance of the House was destroyed in an air raid during World War II with a replacement being subsequently presented to the House by Winston Churchill[2]. Very few members are said to take snuff nowadays.

In China, snuff bottles were used, usually available in two forms. Glass bottles are decorated on the inside to protect the design. Another type used layered multi-coloured glass; parts of the layers were removed to create a picture.

History

Snufftaking by the native peoples of modern-day Haiti was observed by a monk named Ramon Pane on Columbus' second journey to the Americas during 1493-1496.[3]

In 1561 Jean Nicot, the French ambassador in Lisbon, Portugal, sent snuff to Catherine de' Medici to treat her son's persistent migraines.[4] Her belief in its curative properties helped to popularize snuff among the elite.[5]

By the 1600s some started to object to snuff being taken. Pope Urban VIII threatened to excommunicate snufftakers, and in Russia in 1643, Tsar Michael set the punishment of removal of the nose for snuff use. However, elsewhere use persisted; King Louis XIII of France was a devout snufftaker, and by 1638, snuff use had been reported to be spreading in China.

By the 1700s, snuff had become the tobacco product of choice among the elite, prominent users including Napoleon, King George III's wife Queen Charlotte, Benedict XIII. The taking of snuff helped to distinguish the elite members of society from the common populace, which generally smoked its tobacco.[5] It is also during the 1700s that the first tobacco warnings were published, among these, John Hill, an English doctor warned of the overuse of snuff, causing vulnerability to nasal cancers.[6] Snuff's image as an aristocratic luxury attracted the first U.S. federal tax on tobacco, created in 1794.

In Eighteenth-Century Britain, the Gentlewoman's Magazine advised readers with ailing sight to use the correct type of Portuguese snuff, "whereby many eminent people had cured themselves so that they could read without spectacles after having used them for many years."

In certain areas of Africa, snuff reached native Africans before white Europeans did. A fictional representation of this is in Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, where the Igbo villagers are regular snuff-takers long before they ever encounter the first British missionaries. In some African countries, such as South Africa and Nigeria, snuff is still popular with the older generation, though its use is slowly declining, with cigarette smoking becoming the dominant form of tobacco use.

Health risks

Users of smokeless tobacco products including snuff are believed to face less cancer risk than smokers, but are still at greater risk than people who do not use any tobacco products.[7]

Legal issues

Oral snuff, in the form of dipping tobacco and snus is banned from all countries of the European Union except Romania, Sweden, and Denmark, where the sale of snus is legal. Usage of snus in Scandinavian countries is very common. Sale of snus over the counter in Norway is also legal.[8]

Snuff is readily available over the counter in most European tobacco shops. In Britain, snuff is much cheaper than cigarettes and other tobacco products as it is tax exempt, however for duty free purposes snuff still carries the same limitations as other tobacco products.

Production and possession of nasal snuff was illegal in Poland from 1996 until 2000.

Makers

An Antique Pair of Snuffers, 1888
Brazil
  • Moeda
Germany
  • Bernard brothers - Founded in 1733
  • Lotzbeck - Founded in 1774
  • Sternecker - Founded in 1900
  • Pöschl - Founded in 1902, makers of Gletscherprise, Gawith Apricot & Ozona
  • Wittmann - Founded in 1955
  • Arnold Andre
India
Netherlands
  • De Kralingse
South Africa
  • Leonard Dingler
  • Ntsu
Sweden
United Kingdom
  • Fribourg & Treyer - Founded in 1720
  • Wilsons of Sharrow - Founded in 1737
  • Samuel Gawith - Founded in 1792
  • Gawith Hoggarth - Founded in 1854
  • Hedges
  • McChrystal's - Founded in 1926
  • Toque - Founded in 2006
  • Jaxons Snuff - Founded in 2007
USA

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2001/jul/11/1
  2. ^ http://osdir.com/ml/culture.tobacco.snuff/2004-08/msg00086.html
  3. ^ Bourne, G. E.: Columbus, Ramon Pane, and the Beginnings of American Anthropology (1906), Kessinger Publishing, 2003, page 5.
  4. ^ McKenna, T.: Food of the Gods - The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge - A Radical History of Plants, Drugs, and Human Evolution, Bantam Books, 1993, page 199.
  5. ^ a b Porter, R., Teich, M.: Drugs and Narcotics in History, Cambridge University Press, 1997, page 39.
  6. ^ http://www.techmedexperts.com/pdf/Technical_carcinogens.pdf
  7. ^ Boffetta P, Hecht S, Gray N, Gupta P, Straif K (July 2008). "Smokeless tobacco and cancer". Lancet Oncol. 9 (7): 667–75. doi:10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70173-6. PMID 18598931. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1470-2045(08)70173-6. 
  8. ^ "NewsRoom Finland". http://virtual.finland.fi/stt/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=17038&group=General. Retrieved 2007-10-24. 

Further reading

External links

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Translations: Snuff
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Dansk (Danish)
1.
v. tr. - slukke
n. - tande

idioms:

  • snuff it    dø
  • snuff out    slukke, ødelægge, fjerne, sætte en stopper for, gøre det af med

2.
n. - snus
v. tr. - snuse
v. intr. - bruge snus

idioms:

  • up to snuff    i orden, i god stand

Nederlands (Dutch)
snuiftabak, snuif, snuffelen

Français (French)
1.
v. tr. - moucher (une bougie), mettre fin (à qch) brutalement
n. - mouchettes (npl)

idioms:

  • snuff it    casser sa pipe
  • snuff out    moucher, (fig) éteindre, étouffer (une rébellion), descendre (qn)

2.
n. - tabac à priser
v. tr. - inhaler, renifler
v. intr. - priser du tabac

idioms:

  • up to snuff    priser (du tabac)

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Schnuppe

idioms:

  • snuff it    (Slang) ins Gras beißen
  • snuff out    löschen, niederschlagen

2.
n. - Schnupftabak
v. - schnüffeln

idioms:

  • up to snuff    auf der Höhe

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - καπνός μύτης, ταμπάκο, καύτρα κεριού
v. - εισπνέω ή ρουφώ από τη μύτη, κόβω την καύτρα κεριού

idioms:

  • snuff it    (Βρετ., αργκό) τα κακαρώνω
  • snuff out    σβήνω, καθαρίζω, σκοτώνω
  • up to snuff    (Βρετ., καθομ.) ξεφτέρι

Italiano (Italian)
fiutare, tabacco da naso

idioms:

  • snuff it    lasciarci la pelle
  • snuff out    far fuori
  • up to snuff    dritto

Português (Portuguese)
n. - inalação (f), fungadela (f), rapé (m)
v. - cheirar, fungar

idioms:

  • snuff it    que se lixe!
  • snuff out    extinguir, morrer
  • up to snuff    em boa forma, de boa qualidade, sabido

Русский (Russian)
снимать нагар, нюхать табак, принюхиваться, нюхать, обнюхивать, вынюхивать, чуять, нагар на свече, огарок, никому не нужный остаток (чего-л.), нюхательный табак, понюшка

idioms:

  • snuff it    умереть
  • snuff out    задуть, разрушать (мечты), подавлять (восстание), умереть
  • up to snuff    "стреляный воробей", на должном уровне

Español (Spanish)
1.
v. tr. - despabilar (una vela), terminar algo de modo abrupto
n. - moco (de vela)

idioms:

  • snuff it    estirar la pata
  • snuff out    sofocar, apagar, terminar con

2.
n. - inhalación, tabaco en polvo que se inhala
v. tr. - inhalar, absorber por la nariz
v. intr. - tomar rapé

idioms:

  • up to snuff    muy despabilado

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - vädring, inandning, snus, pris, snopp, bränd ljusveke
v. - andas in, vädra, snusa, nosa, dra in luften genom näsan

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 剪花, 扼杀, 消灭, 熄灭, 掐灭, 谋杀, 被掐灭, 断气, 死去, 烛花, 灯花

idioms:

  • snuff it    断气, 死去
  • snuff out    扼杀, 消灭, 死掉
  • up to snuff    正常, 符合标准, 精明

2. 以鼻吸气, 闻, 嗅, 鼻烟, 用鼻子使劲吸

3. 烛花, 灯花, 熄灭, 被掐灭, 断气, 死去

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
v. tr. - 剪花, 扼殺, 消滅, 熄滅, 掐滅, 謀殺
v. intr. - 熄滅, 被掐滅, 斷氣, 死去
n. - 燭花, 燈花

idioms:

  • snuff it    斷氣, 死去
  • snuff out    扼殺, 消滅, 死掉
  • up to snuff    正常, 符合標準, 精明

2.
n. - 以鼻吸氣, 聞, 嗅, 鼻煙
v. tr. - 用鼻子使勁吸, 聞, 嗅

3.
n. - 燭花, 燈花
v. intr. - 熄滅, 被掐滅, 斷氣, 死去

한국어 (Korean)
1.
v. tr. - (초를) 끄다, 잔혹한 행동을 끝맺다
n. - 초 심지의 탄 검은 부분, 가치 없는 것, 잔학 영화

idioms:

  • snuff out    (초 따위를) 끄다, (희망 따위를) 꺾다, (아무를) 없애 버리다

2.
n. - 코로 냄새 맡기, 향기, (한줌의) 코 담배
v. tr. - 코로 들이마시다, 냄새 맡아 알아내다
v. intr. - 코담배를 맡다, 흥흥 냄새 맡다

idioms:

  • up to snuff    어느 기준에 이른, 양호한, 빈틈 없는

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 鼻から吸う, かぎたばこをかぐ, 消す, しんを切る
n. - 鼻で吸うこと, かぎたばこ

idioms:

  • snuff it    くたばる
  • snuff out    消す, つぶす, 死ぬ
  • up to snuff    良好な, 標準に達して, 抜け目のない

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سعوط, ألجزء ألمحترق من فتيله ألشمعه (فعل) يشم, يتنشق, يزيل ألجزء ألمحترق من فتيل ألشمعه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮קיצץ את החלק החרוך של הפתיל(ה), כיבה, מחט פתילה, ניתק פתאומית, הרג (עגה), חיסל‬
n. - ‮החלק החרוך של הפתיל(ה)‬
n. - ‮רחרוח, שאיפה באף, אבקת הרחה, טבק להרחה‬
v. tr. - ‮רחרח, שאף באף‬
v. intr. - ‮הריח טבק להרחה‬

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Idioms. The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/.  Read more
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