snag Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a sharp protuberance
  2. noun a dead tree that is still standing, usually in an undisturbed forest
    • a snag can provide food and a habitat for insects and birds
  3. noun an opening made forcibly as by pulling apart
    tear; split; rent; rip.
    • there was a rip in his pants
    • she had snags in her stockings
  4. noun an unforeseen obstacle
    rub; hang-up; hitch.
  5. verb catch on a snag
    • I snagged my stocking
  6. verb get by acting quickly and smartly
    • snag a bargain
  7. verb hew jaggedly

WordNet

Snag noun
Etymology
Prov. E., n., a lump on a tree where a branch has been cut off; v., to cut off the twigs and small branches from a tree, of Celtic origin; cf. Gael. snaigh, snaidh, to cut down, to prune, to sharpen, p. p. snaighte, snaidhte, cut off, lopped, Ir. snaigh a hewing, cutting.
Definitions
  1. A stump or base of a branch that has been lopped off; a short branch, or a sharp or rough branch; a knot; a protuberance.
    The coat of arms Now on a naked snag in triumph borne. Dryden.
  2. A tooth projecting beyond the rest; contemptuously, a broken or decayed tooth. Prior.
  3. A tree, or a branch of a tree, fixed in the bottom of a river or other navigable water, and rising nearly or quite to the surface, by which boats are sometimes pierced and sunk.
  4. (Zoöl.) One of the secondary branches of an antler. 5. Any sharp protuberant part of an object, which may catch, scratch, or tear other objects brought into contact with it.
    How thy snag teeth stand orderly, Like stakes which strut by the water side. J. Cotgrave.
Snag transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Snagged ; present participle & verbal noun Snagging
Definitions
  1. To cut the snags or branches from, as the stem of a tree; to hew roughly. Prov. Eng. Halliwell.
  2. To injure or destroy, as a steamboat or other vessel, by a snag, or projecting part of a sunken tree. U. S.
  3. To catch on a snag{5}.
  4. (Fig.) To obtain by a quick action, as though by snagging{3} something passing by; -- often used of an opportunistic or fortunate action.

Webster 1913