snitch

snitch¹ informer; nose; to inform

Etymology

The noun meaning an informer, with the verb "to inform", is of unknown or obscure origin.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8]} Etymonline thinks it probably grew out of the underworld slang sense "the nose", itself probably from one of the Germanic words for the nose that begin with the letters sn, such as snout.^[9] Green's Dictionary of Slang explains the verb from the "nose" sense: an informer is one who sticks his nose in.^[10] Webster's New World places it in 18th-century thieves' slang, with the original sense "a nose".^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fillip, a flick on the nose: 1676, in Elisha Coles's English Dictionary.^[2][7] Green's Dictionary of Slang instead takes Coles's entry for the sense "the nose", and dates "a blow on the nose" from about 1698, in B. E.'s New Dictionary of the Canting Crew.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The sense "nose" is recorded in canting dictionaries from 1699,^[2][4] and in 18th- and 19th-century cant glossaries the word is also spelled snich.^[10] From the nose the word passed to the informer, the person who "noses" on his accomplices: Vaux's flash vocabulary of 1812 says that snitching is the same as nosing.^[10] The noun "informer" is first recorded in 1785, in Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, in the phrase to turn snitch, to turn King's evidence.^[2][7][9] The verb is dated from 1801 by the OED and Barnhart,^[2][7][9] but Green's Dictionary of Slang has it from 1718, in Hitchin's Conduct of Receivers and Thief-Takers, and snitch to bum or beak from 1749;^[10] the Shorter Oxford dates it to the mid 18th century.^[5] Snitcher in the same sense is recorded from 1827.^[9] In New Zealand slang, to have a snitch on someone, to bear them a grudge, is recorded by Green's Dictionary of Slang from 1924, by the OED from 1943.^[10][2] In dialect the word survived for the nose in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and East Anglia, and as a verb "to inform, tell tales" in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire.^[12]

Timeline

• 1676 – a fillip on the nose (obsolete by 1699).^[2][7]
• 1699 – the nose.^[2][4]
• 1718 – verb, to inform on someone.^[10] The OED and Barnhart date the verb to 1801.^[2][7]
• 1785 – an informer, in the phrase to turn snitch.^[2][7][13]
• 1827 – snitcher, an informer.^[9]
• 1924 – New Zealand slang to have a snitch on, to bear a grudge against.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. An informer, especially a criminal who gives evidence against others; a telltale: Nobody on the block would talk to the snitch.^[14][4][3]
2. (slang) The nose.^[14][4][2]
3. (New Zealand slang) have a snitch on: to bear a grudge against someone.^[2][5]

Verb

1. To act as an informer; to give incriminating evidence, especially against an associate: She snitched on the other drivers.^{[4][3][14][2]}
2. To inform against a person.^[2][4]

Word family

• snitcher

snitch² to steal

Etymology

The verb meaning to steal is perhaps a variant or alteration of snatch,^[7][9][15] which Merriam-Webster's Collegiate considers probable.^[13] Merriam-Webster Unabridged keeps it with the verb "to inform", of unknown origin, but says its meaning was probably influenced by snatch;^[4] the OED, the American Heritage Dictionary and the Shorter Oxford also treat both senses under one word of unknown origin.^[2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To take stealthily, to steal: 1904, in the New York Times.^{[2][7][9][13]}

Semantic evolution

Dictionary.com dates the word to 1900–05.^[15] The OED also records from 1900 a sense "to catch by means of a noose or loop",^[2] and in the dialects of Scotland, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire a snitch was a noose and to snitch to tie up;^[12] in south Lancashire dialect it meant to snatch or pilfer.^[12] The usual object of the slang verb is something of small value.^[3][4] The American Heritage Dictionary also records the noun in the sense "a thief".^[3]

Timeline

• 1900 – to catch with a noose.^[2]
• 1904 – to take stealthily, to steal.^[2][7][13]

Meanings

Verb

1. To steal, usually something of little value; to pilfer: He snitched an apple from the stall.^{[3][4][14][2]}
2. To take something by stealth: to snitch a ride on a freight train.^[4]

Noun

1. A thief.^[3]