[Cf. SNUG v. and -LE.]
1. intr. Of persons, esp. children: To lie snug or close, esp. for warmth or comfort; to settle down cosily or comfortably; to get or press close to a person, esp. as a mark of affection; to nestle.
1687. Miége, Gt. Fr. Dict., II. To Snuggle, or to snuggle together, se serrer dans un lit.
1727. Bailey (vol. II.), To Snuggle, to lie close together; to embrace one another in Bed.
1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, Snuggle. To lie snug in bed—or to get close together in bad weather.
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, lviii. She coaxed and snuggled and smiled. Ibid. (1854), Newcomes, i. We were friends in a minute—young Newcome snuggling by my side.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. iii. I snuggled under a little shawl, and it was warm there.
fig. 1879. ‘E. Garrett’ (Mrs. Mayo), House by Works, I. 25. It was a wealthy household,… where virtue … snuggled in broad cloth and satin.
b. To nestle close or near to a person or thing.
1845. S. Judd, Margaret, I. xiv. 124. Children snuggled to their parents.
1884. Ordnance Gaz. Scotl., II. 394. A collie snuggles to his foot.
1900. R. J. Muir, Myst. Muncraig, xxi. 260. ‘Don’t say that, moaned the girl, snuggling close.
c. With up or down. Also, to curl up snugly or comfortably.
(a) 1839. Haliburton, Letter-bag Gt. West., i. 8. [I] unbooted, unstayed, and snuggled up like a kitten, in bed.
1879. G. Meredith, Egoist, III. ix. 196. He … dashed downstairs into the drawing-room, where he snuggled up and dropped asleep.
1880. Earl of Dunraven, in 19th Cent., Sept., 451. That is the time to appreciate the comfort of a warm weather-proof house, to snuggle up in your blanket [etc.].
(b) 1879. Stevenson, Trav. Cévennes, 61. [I] put my revolver ready to my hand, and snuggled well down among the sheepskins.
1886. Miss Mulock, King Arthur, viii. 311. When the old birds are flown we must snuggle down in the empty nest.
2. transf. Of buildings, etc.: To lie in a sheltered or snug situation; to nestle.
1862. H. Marryat, Year in Sweden, II. 301. Under these bastions snuggle small wood tenements.
1892. Black & White, 26 Nov., 614/1. The towns … snuggle among foliage.
1898. Baring-Gould, Old Eng. Home, i. 18. In a dip in the land,… snuggling into the folds of the down,… lies this lovely old house.
3. trans. To clasp or draw (a person, etc.) to one closely or affectionately; to hug or cuddle.
1775. Ash, Snuggle, to receive into the bosom, to receive into a snug place.
1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, s.v., A nurse hugging a child warmly and kindly, would be said to snuggle it.
1874. Christina Rossetti, Speaking Likenesses, 92. She snuggled it [a wood-pigeon] tenderly to her.
b. To wrap in some warm garment, etc. Also with up.
1866. Alger, Solit. Nat. & Man, III. 169. To lie amid the clover…; or, snuggled in furs, to trudge [etc.].
1893. Advance (Chicago), 30 Nov. Little boys whom doting mammas have snuggled up in leggings, mittens and mufflers.
c. To push or press, to place or settle, (the head, etc.) in a snug or affectionate manner.
1883. G. H. Boughton, in Harper’s Mag., Dec., 94/1. He again patted the little hand snuggled in upon his arm, in a still more soothing and protecting way.
1899. Conan Doyle, Duet, [xiv.] 185. She snuggled her head up against his knee.
d. To fit or push closely into something.
1902. Temple Bar, May, 578. As he snuggled the weapon into the groove of the parapet.
4. refl. To settle or nestle (oneself) in a place snugly or comfortably.
1876. W. White, Holidays in Tyrol, x. 82. Nests erected on poles in which the watchers snuggle themselves.
