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Dry vs Snuff - What's the difference?

dry | snuff |

As verbs the difference between dry and snuff

is that dry is to lose moisture while snuff is to inhale through the nose or snuff can be to extinguish a candle or oil-lamp flame by covering the burning end of the wick until the flame is suffocated.

As an adjective dry

is free from liquid or moisture.

As a noun snuff is

finely]] [[grind|ground or pulverized tobacco intended for use by being sniffed or snorted into the nose or snuff can be the burning part of a candle wick, or the black, burnt remains of a wick (which has to be periodically removed).

dry

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) drye, drie, dri, drige, dryge, . See also (l), (l), (l).

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Free from liquid or moisture.
  • * Addison
    • The weather, we agreed, was too dry for the season.
  • * Prescott
    • Not a dry eye was to be seen in the assembly.
  • (chemistry) Free of water in any state; anhydrous.
  • Thirsty; needing drink.
  • * (William Shakespeare)
    • Give the dry fool drink.
  • (of an alcoholic beverage) Lacking sugar or low in sugar; not sweet.
  • Maintaining temperance; void or abstinent from alcoholic beverages.
  • (of a person or joke) Subtly humorous, yet without mirth.
  • * (Washington Irving)
    • He was rather a dry , shrewd kind of body.
  • (of a scientist or his laboratory) Not working with chemical or biological matter, but, rather, doing computations.
  • (masonry) Built without mortar; dry-stone.
  • *
  • (of animals) Not giving milk.
  • Lacking interest or amusement; barren; unembellished.
  • * (Alexander Pope)
    • These epistles will become less dry , more susceptible of ornament.
  • (fine arts) Exhibiting a sharp, frigid preciseness of execution, or lacking delicate contours and soft transitions of colour.
    • Synonyms
    * (free from liquid or moisture) arid, parched
    Antonyms
    * (free from liquid or moisture) wet * (abstinent from alcohol) wet * wet
    Derived terms
    * bone dry * dry as a bone * dry as a dead dingo’s donger * dry cough * dry hole * dry ice * drily * dry run * dryly * dryness * dry spell * drywall * dry weight * like watching paint dry

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl)

    Verb

  • To lose moisture.
    • The clothes dried on the line.
  • To remove moisture from.
    • Devin dried her eyes with a handkerchief.
  • (ambitransitive, figurative) To cease or cause to cease.
    • Their sources of income dried up.
    The stream of chatter dried up.
    Derived terms
    * drier * dryer * dry out * dry up * nondrying
    See also
    * desiccant * desiccate * desiccation

    snuff

    English

    Etymology 1

    Related to .

    Noun

  • Finely]] [[grind, ground or pulverized tobacco intended for use by being sniffed or snorted into the nose.
  • Fine-ground or minced tobacco, dry or moistened, intended for use by placing a pinch behind the lip or beneath the tongue; see also snus.
  • * 1896 , Universal Dictionary of the English Language :
    • Dry snuffs' are often adulterated with quicklime, and moist ' snuffs , as rappee, with ammonia, hellebore, pearl-ash, etc.
  • A snort or sniff of fine-ground, powdered, or pulverized tobacco.
  • The act of briskly inhaling by the nose; a sniff, a snort.
  • Resentment or skepticism expressed by quickly drawing air through the nose; snuffling; sniffling.
  • (obsolete) Snot, mucus.
  • (obsolete) Smell, scent, odour.
    • Derived terms
    * up to snuff

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To inhale through the nose.
  • * Dryden
    • He snuffs the wind, his heels the sand excite.
  • *
    • Napoleon paced to and fro in silence, occasionally snuffing at the ground.
  • To turn up the nose and inhale air, as an expression of contempt; hence, to take offence.
  • * Bishop Hall
    • Do the enemies of the church rage and snuff ?

    Etymology 2

    Origin uncertain.

    Noun

    (-)
  • The burning part of a candle wick, or the black, burnt remains of a wick (which has to be periodically removed).
  • *, II.3.3:
    • his memory stinks like the snuff of a candle when it is put out […].
  • * Jonathan Swift
    • If the burning snuff happens to get out of the snuffers, you have a chance that it may fall into a dish of soup.
  • (obsolete) Leavings in a glass after drinking; heel-taps.
  • (attributive) Pertaining to a form of pornographic film which involves someone's actually being murdered.
    • Derived terms
    * snuff-dish * snuff film * snuff movie * snuffter

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To extinguish a candle or oil-lamp flame by covering the burning end of the wick until the flame is suffocated.
  • (obsolete) To trim the burnt part of a candle wick.
  • * 1817 , , Northanger Abbey , [http://books.google.com/books?id=9QQ9AAAAYAAJ&dq=%22snuffed%20and%20extinguished%20in%20one%22&pg=PA205#v=onepage&q=snuffed&f=false]:
    • The dimness of the light her candle emitted made her turn to it in alarm; but there was no danger of its sudden extinction, it had yet some hours to burn; and that she might not have any greater difficulty in distinguishing the writing than what its ancient date might occasion, she hastily snuffed' it. Alas! it was ' snuffed and extinguished in one.
  • (slang) To kill a person; to snuff out.
    • Derived terms
    * snuffer * snuff it * snuff out