snob1 (snob)

[Also in some senses Sc. snab; prob. a var. of Sc. and E. dial. snap, snape, a boy, servant, prob. The Shoemaker, born a Snob . Barham , In golds by Legends, II. 220, note. 2. A townsman as opposed to a gownsman; a Philistine. [University cant, especially in Cambridge.] Snobs. A term applied indiscriminately to all who have not the honour of being members of the university; but in a more particular manner to the "profanum vulgus," the tag-rag and bob-tail, who vegetate on the sedgy banks of Camus. Gradus ad Cant a brig i am (1824). 3. One who is servile in spirit or conduct toward those whom he considers his superiors, and correspondingly proud and insolent toward those whom he considers his inferiors; one who vulgarly apes gentility. Ain't a snob a fellow as wants to be taken for better bred, or richer, or cleverer, or more influential than he really is? Lever, One of Them, xxxix. My dear Flunkies, so absurdly conceited at one moment, and so abject at the next, are but the types of their masters in this world. He who meanly admires mean things is a Snob - perhaps that is a safe definition of the character. Thackeray , Book of Snobs , ii. 4. A workman who continues working while others are out on strike; one who works for lower wages than other workmen; a knobstick; a rat: so called in abuse. [Prov. Eng.] snob2t, snub2+ (snob, snub), v. i. [ Suh, suh, she cannot answer me for snobbing . Middle ton, Mad World, iii. 2. snob2t, snub2+ (snob, snub), n. [ And eke with snubs profound, and heaving breast, Convulsions intermitting! [he] does declare His grievous wrong. Shenstone, The School-Mistre , st. 24.