Definition of "snag"

The coat of arms / Now on a naked snag in triumph borne.

1697, Virgil, “The Ninth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]

‘A’most used-up I am, I do declare!’ she observed. ‘The jolting in the cars is pretty nigh as bad as if the rail was full of snags and sawyers.’

1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844

[…] I watched for sunken stones; I was learning to clap my teeth smartly before my heart flew out, when I shaved by a fluke some infernal sly old snag that would have ripped the life out of the tin-pot steamboat and drowned all the pilgrims; […]

1899 (please specify the page), Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], part

To ſee our Women's Teeth look white. / And ev'ry ſaucy ill-bred Fellow / Sneers at a Mouth profoundly yellow. / In China none hold Women ſweet, / Except their Snags are black as jett.

1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “Alma: Or, The Progress of the Mind”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], canto II, page 354

The snag in this business of falling in love, aged relative, is that the parties of the first part so often get mixed up with the wrong parties of the second part, robbed of their cooler judgment by the parties of the second part's glamour.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins

Tickets are cheaper the younger you are—snag a youth ticket (if you're twenty-five or under) for a 35 percent discount. If both you and your travel partner are twenty-six or older, the Small Group Saver will knock off 15 percent.

2017, Off Track Planet's Travel Guide for the Young, Sexy, and Broke

Your upcoming Instagram beach photos are begging you to snag this bright orange maxi. BEGGING. Like, oof! Do you see that high slit? 10/10. No notes.

2023 June 16, Megan Uy, “25 Absolutely Gorgeous Crochet Clothing Pieces You Won’t Stop Wearing This Summer”, in Cosmopolitan‎

When felled and snagged, one end of the tree is placed upon a small sledge, and dragged out of the bush by oxen

1846, Sir Richard Levinge, “Echoes from the Backwoods”, in The New Monthly, volume 76

Shit, I remember when you were just rugged, bro. Snagging around and tepee-creeping at the stomp dance.

2021 September 20, “Satvrday”, in Reservation Dogs, spoken by Big

I fire up the barbie and start cooking snags.

2005, Peter Docker, Someone Else′s Country, ReadHowYouWant, published 2010, page 116

‘You can get the chooks and snags from the fridge if you want,’ he replied.I smiled, remembering my bewilderment upon receiving exactly the same command at my very first barbecue back in Sydney a month after I′d first arrived.

2007, Jim Ford, Don't Worry, Be Happy: Beijing to Bombay with a Backpack, page 196

‘Hungry? We′ve got plenty of roo,’ one of the men said as she walked up. He pointed with his spatula, ‘and pig snags, cow snags, beef and chicken.’

2010, Fiona Wallace, Sense and Celebrity, page 25

"It just kept coming down and I just kept putting them through the middle," he said. "I got an opportunity, and I kicked a few snags."

2003, Greg Baum, "Silver anniversary of a goal achieved", The Age

Over time, the ‘sensitive’ aspect of the SNAG has become paramount.

1999, Anthony McMahon, Taking Care of Men: Sexual Politics in the Public Mind, Cambridge University Press, page 103

Mediadates offers handy tips for online dating virgins and a list of popular abbreviations used in website chatrooms. So you can tell a shag from a "Snag" - sensitive new age guy.

2006 September 22, Jason Deans, “Single white media male. GSOH …”, in The Guardian‎

Naturally, the Frat Boy and the Toadmeister decided to hold a contest to see who could “drop the hammer” with Pippi first. Chris’s strategy was to pretend to be a “snag” (Sensitive New Age Guy) in the hope of appealing to her alternative side.

2008 , Toby Young, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Philadelphia, PA: Da Capo, page 76