Dictionary

snaphance en · NOUN

Etymology

Dutch snaphaan (“a gun”), originally, the snapping cock of a gun. See snap and hen.

Meanings

1. A spring lock for discharging a firearm.
2. The firearm to which it is attached.
3. (obsolete) A trifling or second-rate thing or person.
   • [T]o make this realme a praye to al venturers, al ſpoylers, all ſnaphanſes, all forlornehopes, all cormerauntes, all reuenours of the worlde, that wyll inuade this realme, is to ſaye, thou poſſeſſyoner of any landes of this realme, of what degree ſo euer thou be, fro the higheſt to the loweſt, ſhalte be ſlayne and deſtroyed, and thy landes taken frome the by thoſe that wyl haue al for them ſelfes. 1539 April 9, Cuthbert Tunstall, A Sermon of Cuthbert Tonstall, Bishop of Durham, Preached on Palm Sunday, 1539, before King Henry VIII. […], London: […] [J. Compton, […]] for T[homas] Rodd, […], published 1823, →OCLC:
4. (obsolete) A snappish retort.

Forms