Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To act as an informer.
- intransitive verb To steal (something, usually something of little value); pilfer.
- noun An informer.
- noun A thief.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To steal, quickly and quietly.
- verb transitive To inform on.
- verb slang, transitive To contact or cooperate with the police for any reason.
- noun A thief.
- noun An
informer , usually one who betrays his group. - noun this sense) (
UK ) A nose.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police
- verb take by theft
- verb give away information about somebody
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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In these cases, these individuals were stigmatized with the label "snitch" or "stool pigeon."
Elena Quintana: The Problem With Snitching Elena Quintana 2011
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In these cases, these individuals were stigmatized with the label "snitch" or "stool pigeon."
Elena Quintana: The Problem With Snitching Elena Quintana 2011
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I spoke to multimillionaire rap star Cam'ron about why he uses the term snitch and encourages people not to talk to police, says he himself would never talk to police.
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And, you know, the term snitch used to refer to one criminal who ratted out another criminal in order to get a lesser sentence.
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The same con game is used by people of questionable ethics who invented the term "snitch" to demonize and prevent whistleblowers "ratting them out."
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And he was so scared, he did not go to school yesterday because he sensed that, for being what they call a snitch, something bad would happen to him.
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"The word 'snitch' puts witnesses in a category where they have done something wrong, this is not the case."
Evening Standard - Home Justin Davenport 2011
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I think the reason kids are told not to snitch is because they will be retaliated against.
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The reason why people are scared to snitch is because they fear their lives.
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RAFOLS: Police say this is where a 38-year-old woman was kidnapped, beaten, and branded with a hot iron, the word snitch scorched into her cheek, then blindfolded, driven, and dropped in this nearby neighborhood.
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snitch tagging is a special case of explicitly person-mentioning someone in a reply to or quotation of a post which mentions (usually critically) that same someone more obliquely (like plain text or a nickname) as a way of notifying that person of the critique, either as a heads-up, or perhaps in agreement with the critique.
PossibleUnderscore commented on the word snitch
Frank Burns: At school I used to snitch on myself for not snitching.
August 14, 2009