Now dial. [prob. ad. MDu. or MLG. snorken (still Du. and LG.; hence Da. snorke), variant of snarken SNARK v.]
1. intr. To snore.
1531. Tindale, Expos. 1 John (1537), 98. We … lye snorkyng lyke sloggardes.
1565. T. Stapleton, Fortr. Faith, 121 b. Thou shalt not heare there the seruauntes snorke.
2. To snort or grunt; to breathe noisily. Said esp. of horses and pigs. Hence Snorking vbl. sb.
Other dial. senses are recorded in the Eng. Dial. Dict.
1807. Hogg, Pedlar, xxiv. Poems (1865), 66. The horses they snorkit for miles around.
1814. in Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 1113. The pig ran snorking and grunting after her.
1868–. in Sc. and north. glossaries and texts (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
1896. Crockett, Grey Man, xii. The old grouting wretch kept up such a snorking.
Hence Snorker, = SNORK sb. 2.
1891. [D. Jordan] (‘Son of Marshes’), On Surrey Hills, iii. 96. Fust off he reckoned it was one o’ his young snorkers hed got out.
