Now Sc. and north. Also 9 snick-. [f. SNECK sb.1 + DRAWER sb.1: cf. latch-drawer and DRAW-LATCH.] One who draws or lifts a sneck or latch (in order to enter stealthily); a crafty, flattering or sly fellow (cf. quot. 1808).
1402. Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 98. Ȝoure prowde losengerie that rune abowt as snek-drawers.
1806. R. Jamieson, Pop. Ballads, I. 295. Whan the tittlin ald snick-drawers fell to.
1808. Jamieson, s.v., An auld sneck-drawer, one who, from long experience, has acquired a great degree of facility in accomplishing any artful purpose.
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xiii. Doited idiot!—that auld clavering sneck-drawer wad gar ye trow the moon is made of green cheese.
1846. Chalmers, in Hanna, Mem. (1852), IV. xxiv. 457. He was just too much of a sneck-drawer.
So Sneck-draw; also Sneck-drawing vbl. sb. and ppl. a., Sneck-drawn a.
1886. Stevenson, Kidnapped, xvi. There’s many a lying *sneck-draw sits close in kirk.
1894. Crockett, Raiders, xxxi. 228. I ken the Maxwell lads, and I ken the hill sneckdraws.
1785–6. Burns, Addr. to Deil, xvi. Ye auld, *snick-drawing dog!
1818. Scott, Br. Lamm., xxi. The old sneck-drawing whigamore her father.
c. 1830. Hogg, Bridal of Polmood, vii. Onye sikkan wylld sneckdrawinge and pawkerye.
1820. T. Wilson, Pitman’s Pay, I. liii. If aw din’t her bottle fill, Aw’s then a skint-flint, *sneck-drawn dog.
