- snifter (n.)
- 1844, "a drink of liquor," earlier "a sniff," from an obsolete verb meaning "to sniff, snivel" (mid-14c.), of imitative origin. Meaning "large bulbous stemmed glass for drinking brandy" is from 1937. The association of "drinking liquor" with words for "inhaling, snuffling" (e.g. snort) is perhaps borrowed from snuff-taking and the nasal reaction to it.