snicker

Meanings

Noun

• A stifled or broken laugh.
• A player who snicks the ball.

Verb

• To emit a snicker, a stifled or broken laugh.
• To utter through a laugh of this kind.
• To whinny.

Origin

• US variant of the British snigger, possibly of imitative origin, similar to Dutch snikken. The noun is first recorded 1836, from the verb. Compare also Scottish smicker. More at smicker.
• snick + -er