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Glite Dictionary
😤 A noisy breath 🤧 To breathe noisily 🐻 To sniff loudly
to snuffle

to snuffle

1 7.5
To breathe through the nose to smell and find things
  • verb
  • /ˈsnʌfəl/
translation icon : husmear
  • Hyenas slunk along the tracks, snuffling among ashes and dust.
  • dogs snuffle
  • pigs snuffling
  • horses snuffling

Examples

  • Keeping dead still, Tolya watched the roach snuffle forward around the splinters of glass.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Ayla heard snuffling in the woods nearby and thought it was a boar.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • You think Wolf will mind when he snuffles around looking for something we missed?

    Fiction book (1990)

  • On the path, the old dog snuffled up beside me.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The animal snuffled her hand briefly and then ignored her.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The horse snuffled in the dust again, took a short step forward, and again the saddle leather creaked.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • Once he woke to hear a hedgehog puffing and snuffling near his feet.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • The horse drank, snuffled, and blew onto the water and drank deeply again.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The nearly albino pig trotted over to Ali and snuffled at her scuffed sneakers.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The dog snuffled around the yard, sniffing every corner for hidden treats.

Synonyms

to snuff
vsto snuffle
  • Archaic
3 7.9

To smell something quickly to see what it is

is noisier and implies searching rather than mere brief curiosity
to nuzzle
vsto snuffle
2 4.6

To push aside dirt or leaves with the nose to find something

is less forceful and focuses on noisy smelling rather than digging
to whuffle
vsto snuffle
1 9.9

To make a soft sniffing sound when looking for something

is used more generally, not only for animal sounds
to whiff
vsto snuffle
1 3.5

To smell something quickly through the nose

is longer and noisier, used for active searching not just a quick inhale

How Vigorous

to dig
912 1.0
to rootle
  • UK
9.9
to rummage
35 3.8
to snuffle
1 7.5
to nuzzle
11 3.4

Surface Forms

snuffle infinitive
snuffled past
snuffled past participle
snuffling present participle
snuffles third person singular

Morphology

snuffle = snuff (semi-transparent) = snuff + le

Formed from 'snuff' + '-le' with a clear sound-imitative relation to sniffing, but learners may confuse 'snuff' with its other senses.

Etymology

Snuffle likely comes from copying the sound of quick, noisy sniffing and sounds like the word sniff. So, to snuffle can mean 'to sniff or smell by breathing noisily through the nose', like a dog or bear searching for food.