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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
‘cocking a snook’ – 27,700 ghits
‘cocking a snoot’ – 243 ghits
To ‘cock a snook’ is to convey contempt or ‘thumb one’s nose at’. The ‘cock’ part may the those four waggling fingers in imitation of the cock’s comb ( there may be an element of cuckoldry-sign in this gesture?) but the ‘snook’ is less clear. ‘Sneck’ is a Northumberland/Durham dialect word for the standing part of a latch on a gate or door and consequently can be used for ‘nose’. To be ‘snookered’ is to be unable to act or respond with a direct shot – to be trapped by the rules of the game’ but the term was used before the game of snooker was invented and the etymology is unclear.
I’m guessing that ‘snook’ became ‘snoot’, as in ‘snooty’ and it has noselike, snouty connotations too.
could well be, if you like the idea of not only driving a 4×4 but also, in a very obvious way, cocking a snoot to those who hate off-roaders. ...
cars.uk.msn.com/Research/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1305217 – 24k – Cached
She was not unlike the horses she rode with such skill and flair — spirited, free, cocking a snoot at the po-faced and the pompously proper. ...
tasmaniantimes.com/index.php/weblog/2005/08/ – 56k – 21 Dec 2006 – Cached
It shows him smiling and cocking a snoot at the camera, sticking his thumb on his nose and waggling his little finger at the viewer. ...
acepilots.com/mt/2004/05/26/stalin-a-master-of-charm/ – 17k – Cached -
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