snirt

verb /snɜː(ɹ)t/

1. To give a suppressed laugh or sharp intake of breath.

   "He grins, and snirts, and thraws ye ken —

Where it comes from

Origin uncertain. Either from Middle English snurten (“to sneer; snort, snore”), a variation of snorten (“to snort”); or from Middle English *snyrten, an alteration of fnyrten, fnerten, from Old English fnǣrettan. Compare also Norwegian snurt (“vexed, peevish”), Middle English snirt (“stern, gloomy”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry snirt (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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