snack definition

English snack definition

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /snæk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch snacken (“to snack”).

Noun

snack (plural snacks)

1. A light meal.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:meal

2. An item of food eaten between meals.
   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 68:

     The numbers thin out the further we get from London, so I don't feel guilty when I remove my mask momentarily to scoff some of the snacks I'd bought at Marylebone.

3. (slang) A very sexy and attractive person.
   • 2008, Scott Sherman, First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery, Alyson Publications:

     Up close, he was a total snack. “That was pretty slick.” “Well.” He cocked his head, “I'm a pretty slick guy.” “I'm Kevin,” I said. “Romeo,” he put out his hand. “You're kidding.”

   • 2019, Loy A. Webb, The Light, Concord Theatricals, →ISBN, page 22:

     You were looking like a snack. I was looking like a snack. We were finally going to do what two snacks do... I immediately went into my routine. Covers on. Lights off. But you Mr. Tate...you softly grabbed my hand, kissed it, and turned the lights back on.

   • 2020, Gena Showalter, Prince of Stone, HQN Books, →ISBN:

     Her confusion amped up. But so did her attraction. He was a total snack.

Alternative forms

• (attractive person): snacc

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• munchies
• fast food
• takeaway

Verb

snack (third-person singular simple present snacks, present participle snacking, simple past and past participle snacked)

1. To eat a light meal.
   • 2020 December 2, Paul Bigland, “My weirdest and wackiest Rover yet”, in Rail, page 66:

     Insult is added to injury when I see the West Coast Railways dining train at the adjacent platform, where guests are sat snacking and drinking wine at a very sociable distance.

2. To eat between meals.

   Coordinate term: graze

Derived terms

• snack down on
• snacker

Translations

Etymology 2

See snatch (transitive verb). Ultimately of the same origin as the word under Etymology 1, but perhaps through a different source.

Noun

snack (plural snacks)

1. (obsolete) A share; a part or portion.
   • 1735, [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London, Dublin: Re-printed by George Faulkner, bookseller, […], →OCLC:

     At last he whispers, "Do, and we go snacks."

   • 1894, H. G. Wells, The Hammerpond Park Burglary:

     “Have you exhibited very much?” said Young Person in the bar-parlour of the “Coach and Horses,” where Mr Watkins was skilfully accumulating local information on the night of his arrival.
     “Very little,” said Mr Watkins, “just a snack here and there.”

Verb

snack (third-person singular simple present snacks, present participle snacking, simple past and past participle snacked)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To snatch.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To bite.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To share.

Anagrams

• nacks

Dutch snack definition

Etymology

Borrowed from English snack, from Middle Dutch snacken (from which snakken).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /snɛk/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

snack m (plural snacks, diminutive snackje n)

1. snack

Derived terms

• snackbar

Verb

snack

1. inflection of snacken:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. imperative

French snack definition

Etymology

From English snack, from Middle Dutch snacken.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /snak/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

snack m (plural snacks)

1. snack bar

   Synonym: snack-bar

Further reading

• “snack”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Romanian snack definition

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English snack.

Noun

snack n (plural snackuri)

1. snack

Declension

Spanish snack definition

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsnak/ [ˈznak], /esˈnak/ [ezˈnak]
• Rhymes: -ak
• Syllabification: snack

Noun

snack m (plural snacks)

1. snack

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Swedish snack definition

Etymology

Deverbal from snacka (“to chat, to talk”).

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Noun

snack n (uncountable)

1. (colloquial) talk, speech
2. (colloquial) a talk

   Kan vi ta ett snack?

   Could we have a talk?

3. (colloquial, sometimes) bull, nonsense, empty talk (mostly from "snack" sounding colloquial and lending itself to such usage)

   Äh, vilket snack!

   Eh, what a load of nonsense!

   mycket snack och lite substans

   plenty of hot air and little substance

4. (idiomatic, colloquial, in "(det är) inget snack om saken" ((there is) no talk of the matter)) (there is) no question about it (it definitely is the case)

   Han är skyldig. Det är inget snack om saken.

   He is guilty. There is no question about it.

Declension

Declension of snack
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	snack	snacket	snack	snacken
Genitive	snacks	snackets	snacks	snackens

Derived terms

Related terms

• snacka

References

• snack in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• snack in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)