snub

Etymology 1

From Middle English snubben (also snibben), from Old Norse snubba (“to curse, chide, snub, scold, reprove”), which, like the source of English snip, is probably imitative in some manner. Cognate with Danish snibbe, dialectal Swedish snebba.

adj

1. Conspicuously short.
   a snub-nosed revolver
2. (of a nose) Flat and broad, with the end slightly turned up.
   It was even less easy to fix the impression in the case of the man at the right end of the table, who, to say truth, was as commonplace a person as could be seen anywhere, with a round, brown-haired head and a round snub nose, but also clad in clerical black, of a stricter cut. 1914, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, The Wisdom of Father Brown
3. (mathematics, of a polyhedron) Derived from a simpler polyhedron by the addition of extra triangular faces.

noun

1. A deliberate affront or slight.
   I hope the people we couldn't invite don't see it as a snub.
   The bluntness of King Vajiralongkorn's intervention—and the determination it reveals to resist relatively small checks on royal power—is both a snub to the junta and a worry for democrats, some of whom had dared hope that the new king might be happy to take a back seat in public life. 2017-01-14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist
   The snub from a traditional ally to Putin, who had hosted an inconsequential meeting of the warring countries’ leaders last month, comes immediately on the back of his disastrous summit with six former Soviet states. 2022-11-25, Daniel Boffey, “Putin’s grip on regional allies loosens again after Armenia snub”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
2. A sudden checking of a cable or rope.
3. (obsolete) A knot; a protuberance; a snag.

verb

1. (transitive) To slight, ignore or behave coldly toward someone.
2. (transitive) To turn down insultingly; to dismiss.
   He snubbed my offer of help.
3. (transitive) To check; to reprimand.
4. (transitive) To stub out (a cigarette etc).
5. (transitive) To halt the movement of a rope etc by turning it about a cleat or bollard etc; to secure a vessel in this manner.
6. (transitive) To clip or break off the end of; to check or stunt the growth of.

Etymology 2

Compare Dutch snuiven (“to snort, to pant”), German schnauben, German dialect schnupfen (“to sob”), and English snuff (transitive verb).

verb

1. To sob with convulsions.
   He striveth, strugleth, roareth, sobbeth, snubbeth, and ready he is to burst for anger. 1621, Thomas Bedford, The Sinne Vnto Death