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up to snuff. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
up to snuff, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
up to snuff in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Adjective
up to snuff (comparative more up to snuff, superlative most up to snuff)
- (slang) Adequate; of acceptable quality; satisfying an appropriate standard.
1945 January 15, “State of the Nation's Health”, in Time:About 40% of U.S. counties lack full-time public-health service. . . . Many registered hospitals are not up to snuff.
- (chiefly British, dated, slang) Mentally alert, shrewd, savvy.
1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, chapter 31, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, , published 1848, →OCLC:"Dombey," says the Major, with appropriate action, "that is the hand of Joseph Bagstock: of plain old Joey B. . . . a rough and tough, and possibly an up-to-snuff, old vagabond."
1904, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 7, in William Tell Told Again:But the people, who prided themselves on being what they called üppen zie schnuffen, or, as we should say, "up to snuff," and equal to every occasion, had already seen a way out of the difficulty.
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