snorkel
Meanings
Plural: snorkels
Noun
- breathing device consisting of a bent tube fitting into a swimmer's mouth and extending above the surface; allows swimmer to breathe while face down in the water
- air passage provided by a retractable device containing intake and exhaust pipes; permits a submarine to stay submerged for extended periods of time
- A hollow tube, held in the mouth, or mounted on and opening into a diving mask, used by swimmers for breathing underwater.
- A retractable tube fitted in diesel-engine submarines to allow sufficient ventilation that the engines may be used at periscope depth.
- A snorkel parka.
Verb
- dive with a snorkel
- To use a snorkel.
Origin / Etymology
Borrowed from German Schnorchel (“(submarine) snorkel”), related to schnarchen (“to snore”). Thus named because of the submarine snorkel's functional similarity to a nose and because of its noise when in use. The anglicized spelling was first recorded in 1945. See, for example, Mark S. Watson, "New Epoch in Sea War", The Baltimore Sun, December 31, 1945, p. 8: "The Germans' earlier quest of the last important objective, it will be remembered, had produced the Snorkel, a long exhaust tube whose vent reached above water and permitted a submerged vessel to discharge its Diesel fumes in open air."
Synonyms
breather, schnorchel, schnorkel, snorkel breather, snort
Scrabble Score: 11
snorkel is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordsnorkel is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
snorkel is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary