v.
(snaps, snapping, snapped)
- break with a sharp cracking sound.
- (of an animal) make a sudden audible bite.
▸
(snap something up)
quickly secure something that is in short supply.
- open or close with a brisk movement or sharp sound.
- suddenly lose one's self-control.
▸say something quickly and irritably.
-
(snap out of)
informal get out of (a bad mood) by a sudden effort.
- take a snapshot of.
- American Football put (the ball) into play by a quick backward movement.
n.
- an act or sound of snapping.
-
(usu. cold snap)
a brief period of cold weather.
- vigour; liveliness.
- a snapshot.
- Brit. a card game in which players compete to call ‘snap’ as soon as two cards of the same type are exposed.
- a crisp, brittle biscuit.
- N. Amer. informal an easy task.
- N. Amer. a press stud.
adj.
done or taken on the spur of the moment:
a snap decision.
Phrase
- in a snap
informal, chiefly N. Amer. in a moment.
Derivative
- snappable adj.
- snapping adj.
- snappingly adv.
Etymology
C15: prob. from MDu. or Mid. Low Ger. snappen ‘seize’; partly imitative.