sneak
//sniːk//
Forms
- Plural
- sneaks
- present (v1)
- sneak
- past (v2)
- sneaked
- past participle (v3)
- sneaked
- present participle
- sneaking
- 3rd person singular
- sneaks
Definitions
1.A cheat; a con artist.
- I can't believe I gave that sneak $50 for a ticket when they were selling for $20 at the front gate.
2.An informer; a tell-tale.
3.One who sneaks; one who moves stealthily to acquire an item or information.
- My little brother is such a sneak; yesterday I caught him trying to look through my diary.
4.The act of sneaking
1.To creep or go stealthily; to come or go while trying to avoid detection, as a person who does not wish to be seen.
- He decided to sneak into the kitchen for a second cookie while his mom was on the phone.
- Some of these were dressed most gorgeously, others becomingly, and several sneaked in with fantail bangers, calling themselves "Gentlemen of the Nineteenth Century."
2.To take something stealthily without permission.
- I went to sneak a chocolate but my dad caught me.
3.To stealthily bring someone something.
- She asked me to sneak her a phone next month.
4.To inform an authority of another's misdemeanours.(informal)
- If you sneak on me I'll bash you!
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4208
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
Possibly from Middle English sniken (“to creep, crawl”), from Old English snīcan (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-West Germanic *snīkan, from Proto-Germanic *snīkaną (“to creep, crawl”), of sound-symbolic origin; compare formally unrelated snake, snoop, snook, snoke, and snoot.