snip

Etymology

From Dutch snippen (“to snip; shred”) or Low German snippen (“to snip; shred”), of imitative origin. Compare snap.

verb

1. To cut with short sharp actions, as with scissors.
   I don't want you to take much hair off; just snip my mullet off.
2. To reduce the price of a product, to create a snip.
3. To break off; to snatch away.
4. (informal) To circumcise.
   Circumcised fathers face a special problem. Do you want your son's willy to be that radically different from your own? So, parents should perhaps not be put off. Be good to your son's future lovers and have him snipped. 2001, David Cohen, The Father's Book: Being a Good Dad in the 21st Century, John WIley & Sons Ltd, published 2001, page 72
   His children, however, were not snipped, possibly because Princess Diana was opposed to the practice, which is out of fashion in England. 2008, Ilene Schneider, Talk Dirty Yiddish: Beyond Drek: The Curses, Slang, and Street Lingo You Need to Know When You Speak Yiddish, Adams Media, published 2008, page 150
   By the outbreak of the First World War such claims had diminished and the medical profession touted circumcision as being 'hygienic' — fathers were not only encouraged to have their newborn sons snipped, but to belatedly enjoy the benefits themselves. 2012, Tom Hickman, God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis, Square Peg, published 2012, page 144
5. (Internet) To remove the irrelevant parts of quotations in the reply message.

noun

1. The act of snipping; cutting a small amount off of something.
2. A single cut with scissors, clippers, or similar tool.
3. A small amount of something; a pinch.
4. A piece cut out by snipping.
   It was true about the fanmaking; the table and floor were littered with snips of paper. 1967, Elizabeth George Speare, The Prospering, page 293
5. (informal) Something acquired for a low price; a bargain.
   That wholesale auction lot was a snip at $10.
6. (definite, the snip, euphemistic) A vasectomy.
7. (informal) A small or weak person, especially a young one.
   'Might as well come out now, you little snip, from wherever you be hiding!' 2010, Ellen Renner, Castle of Shadows, Hachette UK, published 2010
8. (onomatopoeia) An act or sound of snipping, the sound produced by scissors.
9. (dated) An impertinent or mischievous person.
   Nor was the lady's establishment more fortunate in gaining the regard of the household. The maid was a verjuiced spinster, too old to love herself, and too ill-natured to look on. The footman was a regular snip […] 1835, William Hamilton Maxwell, My Life, page 283
10. (obsolete) A share or portion; a snack.
    His Third Query is a Frank Proposal, without any more ado, of taking all the Church Lands into the Crown; and Courteously he offers the Poor Cavaliers a Snip in the Booty 1680, Roger L'Estrange, The Free-Born Subject, Or, the Englishmans Birthright Asserted Against All Tyrannical Vsvrpations Either in Church or State
11. (obsolete, slang) A tailor.
    […] you fool, why did you let out that you were a snip?" "I am not ashamed of my trade.” 1850, Charles Kingsley, Alton Locke
12. A white marking on a horse's muzzle, between the nostrils.