snag

Etymology

It is probably of early Scandinavian origin,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} compare dialectal Norwegian snag (“sharp point, projection, stump, spike”) and snage,^[2][4][8] Old Norse snagi (“clothes peg”),^[5][4][8] snaga (“a kind of axe”)^[5][4] and snaghyrndr (“sharp-pointed, of an axe”).^[2][5][9] Etymonline sees the common notion as a sharp projecting point.^[5] Merriam-Webster connects it probably with snatch as well.^[10] Johnson (1755) knew no etymology for it.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short stump standing out from a tree trunk or branch: 1577–87, in Holinshed's Chronicles.^[2][4] Etymonline dates it to the 1570s.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1586 it meant any sharp or jagged projection,^[2][4][5] as in the staff "all full of little snags" of the Fairy Queen, which Johnson quoted,^[11] and it was used for a broken or uneven tooth (1617)^[2] and for a short tine of a deer's antler (1673).^[2] The canting dictionary of about 1698 glossed snaggs as large teeth.^[12] In America the old sense of a projecting stump gave a tree or branch fixed in a riverbed, dangerous to boats: Barnhart finds it in 1804, in Clark's writings in the journals of the Lewis and Clark expedition,^[4] and the OED in 1807.^[2] From this came the figurative sense, an unexpected obstacle or drawback, from 1829 in Etymonline and Barnhart^[5][4] or 1830 in the OED.^[2][7] The verb, to be caught or damaged on a snag, followed in 1807, often of river steamboats;^[2][5] Barnhart thinks it may have been influenced by snagged, jagged (1658).^[4] The verb was used figuratively from 1833, of fabric caught and torn on a projection from 1854,^[5][2] and in American colloquial use for catching, grabbing or stealing from 1895,^[5][2][12] later for catching a ball (1942) or a fish (1946).^[2] In North America a snag is also a standing dead tree (1904).^[2][9] In dialect the word was used throughout Scotland, Ireland and England for a rough knob or the stump of a branch.^[13]

Timeline

• 1577–87 – a stump projecting from a tree trunk or branch.^[2][4]
• 1586 – a sharp or jagged projection.^[2][4]
• 1617 – a broken stump of a tooth, a large or unshapely tooth.^[2]
• 1673 – a short tine of a deer's antler.^[2]
• 1804 – a tree or branch fixed in a riverbed, dangerous to boats.^[4] The OED's first record is from 1807.^[2]
• 1807 – verb, of a boat, to be caught or damaged by a snag.^[2][5]
• 1829 – figurative, an obstacle or impediment.^[5][4] The OED dates it to 1830.^[2]
• 1833 – verb, figurative, to impede or hinder.^[2][5]
• 1854 – a tear made by a sharp projection; verb, to tear on a projection.^[2][5]
• 1895 – verb, American colloquial, to grab, catch or steal.^[2][5]
• 1904 – North American, a standing dead tree.^[2]
• 1942 – verb, in sport, to catch a ball.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An unexpected difficulty, obstacle or drawback: The only snag is that the ferry doesn't run on Sundays.^[9][2][7]
2. A tree or branch fixed in the bed of a river or lake, dangerous to boats.^[10][2][9]
3. A short stump left on a tree where a branch has been cut or broken off.^[10][2][9]
4. A sharp or jagged projection.^[9][2]
5. A pulled thread, small loop or tear in fabric, made by a sharp object.^[9][2]
6. (chiefly North America) A standing dead tree.^[10][2][9]
7. (Australia, slang, usually plural) A sausage.^[9]

Verb

1. To catch or tear on a projection: She snagged her sleeve on the barbed wire.^[9][10][2]
2. To impede or hold up, as a snag does.^[2][5]
3. (informal, chiefly North America) To grab or get hold of quickly: He snagged the last seat on the bus.^[2][5][12]
4. To catch a ball, or to catch a fish, especially with a bare hook.^[2]
5. To clear a river of snags.^[2]
6. To cut or trim roughly, leaving snags.^[10][2]

Word family

• snaggy
• snaglike
• unsnag

Related words

• snatch

Usage notes

Several minor words share the spelling: an older verb snag, to carp or nag, recorded from 1554 and perhaps related;^[2][10] a dialect name for the sloe, from 1578, of unknown origin;^[2][10] and a dialect word for a snail or slug, a form of sneg, from 1673.^[2][13] In slang SNAG was also an acronym for a "sensitive new-age guy".^[12]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)