snapping

snapping

1. present participle and gerund of snap

snapping (plural snappings)

1. The sound or action of a snap.
   • 1947, Karl August Boman, Temporomandibular joint arthrosis and its treatment by extirpation of the disk:

     Snappings, audible or palpable, were noted in 45 cases (77 per cent). They were either heard in the course of the examination (about half), or were mentioned in the anamnesis.

2. The act of snapping at, or speaking sharply to, somebody.
   • 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Retribution”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 594:

     There is a snaky gleam in her hard grey eye, as of anticipated rounds of buttered toast, relays of hot chops, worryings and quellings of young children, sharp snappings at poor Berry, and all the other delights of her Ogress's castle.

• finger-snapping

• nappings