snooze

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} The OED and Barnhart regard it as a cant or slang word,^[2][8] and Hoad and Weekley call it an 18th-century cant word of unknown origin.^[9][10] Etymonline suggests it may imitate the sound of a snore,^[11] Partridge and Green's Dictionary of Slang suggest a blend of snore and doze,^[12][13] and Barnhart thinks its form may have been influenced in part by sneeze and, more distantly, doze.^[14][8] The OED takes the noun as probably a conversion of the verb,^[2] as does Barnhart,^[14] while Green's Dictionary of Slang has the noun earlier.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

A nap: in 1753 in J. Poulter's Discoveries, a book on thieves' cant, in the phrase at Snoos, asleep.^[13] The verb, to sleep or doze, is first recorded by the OED in 1789, in G. Parker's Life's Painter,^[2][14] though Etymonline finds it by 1780^[11] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1785.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word belonged at first to the slang of thieves and sailors: Grose's dictionary of the vulgar tongue, in additions of about 1786 and in its editions of 1788 and 1796, glosses to snooze both as to sleep and as to sleep with a woman,^[13] and a sailor's song of 1792 rhymes boozing here, snoozing there.^[13] The noun snooze, a short sleep, entered general colloquial use; the OED's first record is from 1793,^[2][4][14] and Dickens used it in Oliver Twist.^[13] In early 19th-century slang a snooze was also a bed.^[15] Wright's English Dialect Dictionary found the verb and noun in general dialect use in Scotland, Ireland and England, and in the West Riding of Yorkshire the verb also meant to nestle up snugly, as a child to its mother.^[16] The adjective snoozy dates from 1836 in Etymonline.^[11] In the 20th century the verb was used for moving slowly (1921),^[2] the saying you snooze, you lose, originally American, is recorded from 1915,^[2] and the snooze alarm, which repeats after a short interval, from 1965 in Etymonline;^[11][15] from it comes the transitive verb, to press the snooze button on an alarm, recorded from 1993.^[2] North American English also uses snooze for something boring.^[17]

Timeline

• 1753 – noun, a nap, in thieves' cant.^[13] The OED's first record of the noun is from 1793.^[2][4]
• c. 1786 – verb, in Grose, to sleep with a woman.^[13]
• 1789 – verb, to sleep or doze.^[2][14] Etymonline finds it by 1780, and Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1785.^[11][4]
• early 19th century – in slang, a bed.^[15]
• 1915 – you snooze, you lose.^[2]
• 1921 – verb, to move slowly.^[2]
• 1965 – snooze alarm.^[11]
• 1993 – verb, transitive, to set an alarm to go off again after a short interval.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take a short, light sleep; to doze or nap: Grandpa was snoozing in front of the television.^[5][4][2]
2. To silence an alarm so that it sounds again after a short interval.^[2]

Noun

1. A short, light sleep; a nap: The dog had a snooze by the fire.^[5][4][2]
2. (North American) Something boring or tedious.^[17]

Word family

• snoozer
• snoozy

Related words

• snore
• doze

Usage notes

In northern England, Gloucestershire and East Anglia, Wright's English Dialect Dictionary records a separate snooze meaning a noose or snare, and to snare with one.^[16]

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 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 Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
11. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
13. ^ a b c d e f g h Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
16. ^ 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)
17. ^ a b Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press