Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To pry into the private affairs of others, especially by prowling about.
  • noun One who snoops.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To pry about; go about in a prying or sneaking way.
  • noun One who snoops, or pries or sneaks about; a snooper.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To be devious and cunning so as not to be seen
  • verb To secretly spy on or investigate, especially into the private personal life of others.
  • noun The act of snooping
  • noun One who snoops
  • noun A private detective

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a spy who makes uninvited inquiries into the private affairs of others
  • verb watch, observe, or inquire secretly

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Dutch snoepen, to eat on the sly.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch snoepen ("to pry, eat in secret, sneak"). Related to Dutch and Low German snappen ("to bite, seize"), Dutch snavel ("beak, bill, pecker, neb"), German Schnabel ("beak, bill, mouth"). More at snap.

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Examples

  • And the word snoop should probably raise a red flag.

    CNN Transcript Feb 9, 2006 2006

  • March 3, 2008 at 10: 58 am why is your name snoop dogg?

    Snoop Dogg Returns To Londizzle After Airport Rumpus 2008

  • The card can scan for both a and b networks without losing the current configuration, or you can use what it nicely calls a snoop mode which performs more extensive frequency checking.

    Wi-Fi Networking News 2009

  • The card can scan for both a and b networks without losing the current configuration, or you can use what it nicely calls a snoop mode which performs more extensive frequency checking.

    Wi-Fi Networking News 2009

  • The Telegraph reports today that "Children as young as eight have been recruited by councils to" snoop "on their neighbours and report petty offences such as littering, the Daily Telegraph can disclose."

    Archive 2008-09-01 Not a sheep 2008

  • Children as young as eight have been recruited by councils to "snoop" on their neighbours and report petty offences such as littering, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

    Archive 2008-09-01 FIDO The Dog 2008

  • Children as young as eight have been recruited by councils to "snoop" on their neighbours and report petty offences such as littering, the Daily Telegraph can disclose.

    Archive 2008-09-01 FIDO The Dog 2008

  • Without any need to "snoop", it provided me with a dashboard into the productivity of my news organization.

    Facebook’s Core College Student Users Laugh At Attempts To Use It For Business - Publishing 2.0 2007

  • Like the guest from hell, Dickens was the kind of snoop who peers under the rugs.

    Like Dickens, I'm a Tourist On Withered Ground 2002

  • Since OneStatFree will let you know if anyone tries downloading the file (and will log the time, IP address, and approximate location of the snoop), you’ll know the snoop was there even if the he tries covering his tracks by marking the message as unread.

    Check Your Email Account for Impostors | Lifehacker Australia 2008

Comments

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  • From the etymology section:

    "Dutch snoepen, to eat on the sly."

    December 6, 2011