• IPA: /snɛl/

snell (comparative sneller, superlative snellest) (now chiefly Scotland)

1. Quick, smart; sharp, active, brisk or nimble; lively.
   • 1720, Allan Ramsay, Edinburgh's Salutation to Lord Carnarvon:

     That in ilk action, wise and snell / You may shaw Manly fire.

   • 1852, John Brown, Rab and his Friends:

     That horny-handed, snell, peremptory little man.

   • 1889, James Robertson, The Early Religion of Israel:

     Amos is a lithe, keen, snell man.

2. Quick-witted; clever.
   • 1861, John Brown, Horæ Subsecivæ:

     With all this heavy artillery, somewhat slow and cumbrous, on great questions, he had no want, when he was speaking off-hand, of quick, snell remark, often witty and full of spirit, and often too unexpected, like lightning—flashing, smiting, and gone.

3. Harsh, severe, or stinging.
   • 1833, Michael Scott, Tom Cringle's Log:

     Conscience is a rough lad, I grant you, and I am keen and snell also; but never mind, take his advice, and you’ll be some credit to your freens yet, ye scoonrel.

   • 1881, Robert Buchanan, God and the Man:

     Fortunately, we were well prepared for such an emergency, and being sheltered in a safe creek, we roofed the ship with canvas against the snow; and so, with land on every side of us, plenty of moss fuel ashore, a good stock of provisions, and firearms for hunting, we held our trouble, and passed the snell season without the loss of a single soul aboard.

snell

1. Alternative form of snelly

snell (plural snells)

1. A short line of horsehair, gut, monofilament, etc., by which a fishhook or lure is attached to a longer (and usually heavier) line.
   • 1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, page 194:

     He tied on new baited snells and recovered the current with the oars.

• German: Mundschnur

snell (snells, present participle snelling; simple past and past participle snelled)

1. To tie a hook to the end of a fishing line with a snell knot.

   Can you show me how to snell a hook?

• enPR: snĕl, IPA: /snɛl/

1. Surname.
2. An unincorporated community in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
3. An unincorporated community in Harrison, Marathon County.