v. Now north. and Sc. Also 5 snvrtyn, 6, 8 dial. snourt, 6 snowrt. [prob. imitative.]
1. intr. To snort; † to sneer; to snore.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 462/1. Snvrtyn, or frowne wythe þe nese for scorne or schrewdenesse, nario.
1549. Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Thess., 7. That we watche in the dayelight and not lye snourtyng in darkenesse.
1551. Dr. Haddon’s Exhort., in Furnivall, Ballads fr. MSS., I. 325. Yet snowrteste thow, & sleapeste sownd.
1611. Cotgr., Brouffer, to snurt, or snifler with the nose, like a horse.
1790. Mrs. Wheeler, Westmld. Dial. (1821), App. 2. They [fish] snourt when they com out oth girt dub like thunner.
1887. Darlington, Folk Sp. S. Cheshire, Snurt, to snort; but used only of a horse.
† 2. trans. To eject or cast out with a snort or clearing of the nose. Obs. rare.
1600. Minte of Deformities (Halliw.). One snurts tobacco, as his nose were made A perfum’d jakes for all scurrilities.
1610. Markham, Masterpiece, II. xxii. 256. Giue him liberty to hold downe his head, and to snurt out the filthy matter.
Hence Snurter, a snorer; Snurting vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1549. Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Peter, II. 12. So as he that is the more watchefull, maye rayse vp the drowsye snourtour.
1567. Drant, Horace, Ep., I. xiv. E v. Swetely by the husshing brookes to take a snurting nap.
1611. Cotgr., Esbrouëment,… a snurting, or snuftering with the nose.
1891. Sheffield Gloss., Suppl. 54. A man who was blowing through his tobacco pipe said that ‘it made a snurting noise.’
