snipe Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun Old or New World straight-billed game bird of the sandpiper family; of marshy areas; similar to the woodcocks
  2. noun a gunshot from a concealed location
  3. verb hunt or shoot snipe
  4. verb aim and shoot with great precision
    sharpshoot.
  5. verb attack in speech or writing
    lash out; attack; assault; assail; round.
    • The editors of the left-leaning paper attacked the new House Speaker

WordNet

Snipe noun
Etymology
OE. snipe; akin to D. snep, snip, LG. sneppe, snippe, G. schnepfe, Icel. snipa (in comp.), Dan. sneppe, Sw. snäppa a sanpiper, and possibly to E. snap. See Snap, Snaffle.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of limicoline game birds of the family Scolopacidæ, having a long, slender, nearly straight beak. ✍ The common, or whole, snipe (Gallinago c&oe;lestis) and the great, or double, snipe (G. major), are the most important European species. The Wilson's snipe (G. delicata) (sometimes erroneously called English snipe) and the gray snipe, or dowitcher (Macrohamphus griseus), are well-known American species.
  2. A fool; a blockhead. R. Shak.

Webster 1913