Also 5–6 snotte, 6 snott. [ME. snotte or snot (cf. OE. ʓesnot), = Fris. snotte, snot, MDu. snotte (Du. snot), MLG. (and LG.) snotte, snot (hence Da. snot, † snaat, snøt), in sense 2; cf. also LG. snut, MHG. snuz (G. dial. schnutz). The stem is related by ablaut to that of SNITE v.]
1. The snuff of a candle; the burnt part of a candle-wick. Now north. dial.
1388. Wyclif, Exod. xxv. 38. Also tongis to do out the snottis.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 1281. Þe snotte fast brende, þe clothys cauȝt hete & by-gonne to brenne ful fast.
1829. Brockett, N. C. Gloss. (ed. 2), Snot, used by the common people to designate the burnt wick of a candle.
1836. Wilson’s Tales Borders, II. 163. That lang black snot that’s hangin’ at the candle.
1888–. in dial. glossaries (Northbld., Cumbld., Durh., etc.).
2. The mucus of the nose. Now dial. or vulgar.
Common in the 17th cent.
c. 1425. Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 636. Hic polipus, snotte.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 462/1. Snothe, fylthe of the nose (S. snotte).
1530. Palsgr., 272/1. Snotte of the nose, rovpye.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., IV. 81. That no man should draw snott oute at hys nosethrilles.
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., Wks. (Grosart), V. 154. His snot and spittle a hundred tymes he hath put ouer to hys Apothecarie for snowe water.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. ii. VI. iii. (1651), 562. Snot and snivell in her nostrils, spittle in her mouth.
1662. H. Stubbe, Indian Nectar, vii. 126. The Blood is more naturally purg’d … by spittle, and snot, then by any Purges.
1713. Derham, Phys. Theol., VIII. vi. 421. A great deal of Snot from his Nose.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., VII. i. (1862), I. 500/2. From the nose there is always seen issuing a snot.
1808. in Jamieson s.v. Snotter.
1824–. in dial. glossaries (Sc., Cumbld., Yks., Lanc., Linc., Somerset, etc.).
3. dial. and slang. Applied to persons as a term of contempt or opprobrium.
[1607. Dekker & Marston, Northw. Hoe, I. D.’s Wks. 1873, III. 19. Farewell father Snot.]
1809. Donaldson, Poems, 171. Ye’re a dozen’d, stupid snot.
1825–. in dial. glossaries (Cumbld., Yks., Somerset, etc.).
1875. W. Alexander, Sk. Life among Ain Folk, 207. There ’s Briggies, the aul’ snot, at the ga’le [gable] o’ the hoose.
4. (See quot. and cf. next.)
1860. Slang Dict., 222. Snots, small bream, a slimy kind of flat fish. Norwich.
5. Attrib., as snot-fish, (a) the lump-fish, Cyclopterus lumpus; (b) a species of dace, Cyprinus (Leuciscus) dobula [so G. schnottfisch]; snot-gall, † (a) the nose; (b) a Tasmanian fish, Seriolella brama (Cent. Dict. Suppl., 1909); † snot-hole, a nostril.
1648. Hexham, II. Het Snot-gat, the Snot-hole, or Nostrill.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv., 156. Lumps are of two sorts…; either of them is deformed, shapeless and ugly, so that my Maides once at Ipswich were afraid to touch it, being flayed they resemble a soft and gellied substance, whereupon the Hollanders call them Snot-fishes.
1668. Charleton, Onomast., 154. Hisce annumeravit Gesnerus Orbem Britannicum, sive Muconem,… the Snot-fish.
1685. Poor Robin’s Almanack, C vij b. Three Kisses, four Busses, and five licks under the Snot gall.
