Snifter n.Inf. Usually a (small) quantity of strong alcoholic spirits - such as whisky.Sometimes known as a "nip".

There are various colloquial and informal phrases such as this, relating to the consumption of alcohol in the English language - and are often used almost exclusively amongst males - especially as an excuse to (try and) leave the wife (or be late home from work) and disappear for an hour to the pub with a friend or colleague. In England, one of the most famous and common phrases is the now proverbial "..a swift-half" - inaccurately referring to a seemingly very modest and quickly consumed 1/2 pint of beer (usually bitter). Invariably a half pint leads to 3 or 4 pints, over an extended period, often resulting in a burned supper being left in the oven by an angry spouse.

Whilst the "swift-half" deals with beer, the snifter is more often to be found being drunk by older males (cf "Johnnie" Cradock) and is stereotypically consumed by sozzled retired colonels to help stiffen their backbones or those of their friends. The snifter was the supposed favourite drink of Dennis Thatcher as lampooned in the Private Eye series "Dear Bill ".

In England these phrases are more associated with the middle rather than the working classes,

A snifter also refers to a type of stemware, a short-stemmed glass whose main vessel has a wide bottom but that narrows at the top.