I. sniff 1 /snɪf/ BrE AmE verb
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Origin: From the sound ]
1 . [intransitive] to breathe air into your nose noisily, for example when you are crying or have a cold:
Margaret sniffed miserably and nodded.
Stop sniffing and blow your nose.
2 . [intransitive and transitive] to breathe air in through your nose in order to smell something:
He opened the milk and sniffed it.
sniff at
The dog was sniffing at the carpet.
3 . [transitive] to say something in a way that shows you think something is not good enough:
‘Is that all?’ she sniffed.
4 . [transitive] to take a harmful drug by breathing it up your nose ⇨ snort :
kids who sniff glue
sniff at something phrasal verb
1 . something is not to be sniffed at especially British English spoken used to say that something is good enough to be accepted or considered seriously:
An 8% salary increase is not to be sniffed at.
2 . to refuse something in a proud way, or behave as if something is not good enough for you:
He sniffed at my choice of restaurants and suggested his own favorite.
sniff something ↔ out phrasal verb
1 . to discover or find something by its smell:
A customs officer came round with a dog to sniff out drugs.
2 . informal to find out or discover something:
Vic’s been trying to sniff out where you went last night.
II. sniff 2 BrE AmE noun [countable]
1 . when you breathe in air noisily through your nose, for example in order to smell something, because you have a cold, or in order to show your disapproval:
a sniff of disapproval
She gave a loud sniff.
2 . British English informal a small amount or sign of something SYN hint
sniff of
He got us into this mess, and then left at the first sniff of trouble!
3 . have a sniff around/round British English informal to examine a place carefully
4 . not get a sniff of something British English informal to not have any chance of getting something or being successful:
He never even got a sniff of the target.