snuff out
Idioms-
Extinguish, put a sudden end to, as in Three young lives were snuffed out in that automobile accident . This usage alludes to snuff in the sense of “put out a candle by pinching the wick,” an area itself called snuff from the late 1300s on. [Mid-1800s]
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Kill, murder, as in If he told the police, the gang would snuff him out . [ Slang ; first half of 1900s]
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Also, snuff it . Die or be killed, as in He looked very ill indeed, as though he might snuff out any day , or Grandpa just snuffed it . [ Slang ; second half of 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Up stepped Curran again, bowling a masterful 19th over to snuff out Italian hopes.
From Barron's
Many economists think the RBA will proceed cautiously to avoid snuffing out gains in the labor market and putting household budgets under enough strain to damage the broader economy.
He felt the wind try to snuff out his belief, his hope, but he held on tightly to it.
From Literature
Home sales have limped along since rising prices and mortgage rates snuffed out the pandemic’s ultrahot seller’s market several years ago.
From Barron's
Among the dead were athletes, artists and students whose photographs and brief biographies have since flooded social media, creating a digital memorial of young lives snuffed out under an internet blockade.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
