- snag (n.)
- 1570s, "stump of a tree, branch," of Scandinavian origin, cf. Old Norse snagi "clothes peg," snaga "a kind of ax." The meaning "sharp or jagged projection" is first recorded 1580s; that of "obstacle, impediment" is 1829. Snaggle-toothed "having crooked, projecting teeth" (1580s) is from the same root.
- snag (v.)
- "to be caught on an impediment," 1807, from snag (n.). Originally in American English, often in reference to steamboats caught on branches and stumps lodged in riverbeds. The meaning "to catch, steal, pick up" is U.S. colloquial, attested from 1895. Related: Snagged; snagging.