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Spark vs Snark - What's the difference?

spark | snark |

As nouns the difference between spark and snark

is that spark is a small particle of glowing matter, either molten or on fire while snark is snide remarks.

As verbs the difference between spark and snark

is that spark is to trigger, kindle into activity (an argument, etc) while snark is to express oneself in a snarky fashion.

As a proper noun Snark is

a fictional animal in Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark.

spark

English

(wikipedia spark)

Etymology 1

From Middle English sparke, sperke, from Old English spearca, from (etyl) ).

Noun

(en noun)
  • A small particle of glowing matter, either molten or on fire.
  • A short or small burst of electrical discharge.
  • A small, shining body, or transient light; a sparkle.
  • (figuratively) A small amount of something, such as an idea, that has the potential to become something greater, just as a spark can start a fire.
  • * Shakespeare
    • if any spark of life be yet remaining
  • * John Locke
    • We have here and there a little clear light, some sparks of bright knowledge .
  • * 2013 , Phil McNulty, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23830980]", BBC Sport , 1 September 2013:
    • Everton's Marouane Fellaini looks one certain arrival but Moyes, who also saw United held to a draw by Chelsea at Old Trafford on Monday, needs even more of a spark in a midfield that looked laboured by this team's standards.
  • (in plural'' sparks ''but treated as a singular ) A ship's radio operator.
  • (UK, slang) An electrician.
    • Synonyms
    * gnast * beginnings, germ, glimmer
    Derived terms
    * sparkle * bright spark * spark arrester * spark coil * spark gap * spark knock * spark of life * spark plug * spark transmitter * sparks fly

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To trigger, kindle into activity (an argument, etc).
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=May 5 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=The introduction of substitute Andy Carroll sparked Liverpool into life and he pulled a goal back just after the hour - and thought he had equalised as Kenny Dalglish's side laid siege to Chelsea's goal in the closing stages.}}
  • To give off a spark or sparks.
    • Derived terms
    * spark off * sparkle

    Etymology 2

    probably Scandinavian, akin to (etyl) sparkr 'sprightly'

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A gallant, a foppish young man.
  • * Prior
    • The finest sparks and cleanest beaux.
  • A beau, lover.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To woo, court.

    • Derived terms

    * sparkish * sparker

    References

    *

    Anagrams

    * ----

    snark

    English

    Etymology 1

    Compare Low German snarken, North Frisian snarke, Swedish snarka, and English snort, and snore. Noun sense of “snide remarks” derived from snarky (1906), from snark (v.) "to snort" (1866) by onomatopoiea. (en)

    Noun

    (-)
  • Snide remarks.
    • Synonyms
    * (snide comments) sarcasm
    Related terms
    * snarkiness * snarky

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To express oneself in a snarky fashion
  • * {{quote-news, 2009, January 23, Dwight Garner, The Mahvelous and the Damned, New York Times citation
    • , passage=Other would-be Bright Young People, Lytton Strachey snarked , seemed to have “just a few feathers where brains should be.” }}
  • (obsolete) To snort.
    • Derived terms
    * snarker

    Etymology 2

    From (Snark), coined by (Lewis Carroll) as a nonce word in 1874 (The Hunting of the Snark), about the quest for an elusive creature. In sense of “a type of mathematical graph”, named as such in 1976 by (Martin Gardner) for their elusiveness.Martin Gardner, (Mathematical Games), (Scientific American), issue 234, volume 4, pp. 126–130, 1976.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mathematics) A graph in which every node has three branches, and the edges cannot be coloured in fewer than four colours without two edges of the same colour meeting at a point.
  • (particle) A fluke or unrepeatable result or detection in an experiment.
    • Cabrera's Valentine's Day monopole detection or some extremely energetic cosmic rays could be examples of snarks .

    References

    Anagrams

    * English eponyms