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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Snarl


SN'ARL, verb intransitive [This word seems to be allied to gnarl, and to proceed from some root signifyingto twist, bind, or fasten, or to involve, entangle, and thus to be allied to snare.]

1. To growl, as an angry or surly dog; to gnarl; to utter grumbling sounds; but it expresses more violence than grumble. That I should snarl and bit and play the dog.

2. To speak roughly; to talk in rude murmuring terms. It is malicious and unmanly to snarl at the little lapses of a pen, from with Virgil himself stands not exempted.

SN'ARL, verb transitive

1. To entangle; to complicate; to involve in knots; as, to snarl the hair; to snarl a skain of thread. [This word is in universal popular use in New England.]

2. To embarrass.

SN'ARL, noun Entanglement; a knot or complication of hair, thread, etc., which it is difficult to disentangle.