SNUFF OUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does snuff out mean? 

• SNUFF OUT (verb)
  The verb SNUFF OUT has 2 senses:

1. put an end to; kill

2. put out, as of fires, flames, or lights

  Familiarity information: SNUFF OUT used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SNUFF OUT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Put an end to; kill

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

extinguish; snuff out

Context example:

The Nazis snuffed out the life of many Jewish children

Hypernyms (to "snuff out" is one way to...):

do away with; eliminate; extinguish; get rid of (terminate, end, or take out)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "snuff out"):

stamp (destroy or extinguish as if by stamping with the foot)

put out; smother (deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

snuffer (a cone-shaped implement with a handle; for extinguishing candles)

snuffer (a person who snuffs out candles)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Put out, as of fires, flames, or lights

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

blow out; extinguish; quench; snuff out

Context example:

snuff out the candles

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "snuff out"):

stub (extinguish by crushing)

douse; put out (put out, as of a candle or a light)

black out (obliterate or extinguish)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

 Context examples 

I laughed heartily at my own jokes, and everybody else's; called Steerforth to order for not passing the wine; made several engagements to go to Oxford; announced that I meant to have a dinner-party exactly like that, once a week, until further notice; and madly took so much snuff out of Grainger's box, that I was obliged to go into the pantry, and have a private fit of sneezing ten minutes long.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)