snit

See also: snít and šnit

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /snɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt

Etymology 1

American English, of unknown origin, perhaps onomatopoeic.

Noun

snit (plural snits)

1. (informal) A temper; a lack of patience; a bad mood.

   He's in a snit because he got passed over for promotion.

   • 2010 October 25, James Fallows, “Why NPR Matters (Long)”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     First, I think that the NPR leadership made a mistake in appearing to fire Williams in a snit, rather than not renewing his contract, at the next opportunity, because of longstanding differences in journalistic values.

   • 2013, Florida Ann Town, On the Rim, page 84:

     She was confused. Now that he had worked himself into a snit he'd be angry if she unmade the bed and did what he wanted.

Derived terms

• snitty
• snit fit

Etymology 2

Likely related to Proto-Germanic *snidaz, i.e. a a little, a bit. Also perhaps from obsolete German Schnitt which is a small amount of beer served in a larger glass.

Noun

snit (plural snits)

1. A U.S. unit of volume for liquor equal to 2 jiggers, 3 U.S. fluid ounces, or 88.7 milliliters.
2. (US, dialect) A beer chaser commonly served in three-ounce servings in highball or juice glasses with a Bloody Mary cocktail in the upper midwest states of United States including Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, and Illinois.

   The bartender served us each a snit with our Bloody Marys this morning.

Etymology 3

From German Schnitte (“slice”).

Noun

snit (plural snits)

1. (especially dialectal, e.g. West Virginia, Lunenburg, chiefly in the plural) A slice of dried fruit.
   • 1898, Herald and Presbyter, page 38:

     Scenes of plenty, bliss Arcad'n' Sparkling eyes and rosy features; Joyous, blessed, happy creatures! Apple snits and pumpkin slices; Eggs and butter bring good prices! Gran'ries full and runnin' Over; Bulging haymows sweet with clover; ...

   • 1947, The Mennonite Community, volumes 1-3, page 13:

     For instance, a recipe for pear butter calls for 6 “buckets” of pear snits, 5 “buckets” of water and 40 lbs. of sugar.

   • 2011, Faye Porter, At My Grandmother's Knee: Recipes and Memories Handed Down By Women of the South, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 79:

     Nora Virginia Wolfe Houldershell (Moorefield, West Virginia), and how she dried fruit […] "They called the dried apple peels 'apple snits' and hung them on the tree at Christmas along with popcorn, cranberries, and other edibles. Grandma Wolfe made watermelon wine from the flesh and juice, pickles from the rind, and planted [them]."

   • 2013, Montague Whitsel, The Fires of Yule: A Keltelven Guide for Celebrating the Winter Solstice, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 98:

     We like to dip apple snits in hot cocoa and imagine the Stag of Yule coming to the windows of our house, even though we are three blocks from the woods! Apples are among the favorite foods of deer, […]

   • 2017, Robin Propst Kile, Hidden in the Mountains: Fort Seybert 1758, LifeRich Publishing, →ISBN:

     One year, he brought them a bag of dried apple snits. The tangy dried fruits were quite a treat. The pieces of apple were tasty, but the best part of all was that Mother had made a delicious apple snit pie from some of them!

Further reading

• Dialect Notes, 1917, page 338: “snits, n. pl. [From German schneiden, schnitt.] Pieces of fruit quartered and dried. "You can make pies of apple snits." Kan.”
• 2012, H.L. Mencken, American Language Supplement 2, Knopf, →ISBN:

  The dialect of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, which was settled by Germans in the Eighteenth Century, has been studied […] apple-snits (Ger. schnitte); lapish, insipid (Ger. láppisch); klotsy, heavy or soggy (Ger. klotzig); to fress, to eat greedily; […] shimmel, a very blond person (Ger. schimmel, a white mould), and Fassnakday, Shroove Tuesday (Ger. Fastnacht).

Anagrams

• Inst., NIST, NTIS, TINs, Tsin, inst, inst., ints, isn't, nits, tins

Cimbrian

Etymology

From Old High German snita, from Proto-Germanic *snidaz (“cut, slice, piece”).

Noun

snit f

1. (Luserna) cut, slice, piece

   Bar böllatn a snit turt un an kafè. ― We would like a piece of cake and a coffee.

References

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien