snip
To cut off the nip or neb of, or to cut off at once with shears or scissors; to cut off; to nip. To take, little by little; to pilfer. A single cut, as with shears or scissors; a clip. A small shred; a bit cut off. (Webster, 1882) (Webster, 1882)
There wasn't a sound, when at last the tall, thin judge with the chin whiskers too a snip of red ribbon and a snip of blue ribbon out of his pocket. – Farmer Boy, Chapter 21, "County Fair"
In Farmer Boy, Laura Ingalls Wilder uses the verb to snip in its horticultural sense, when Almanzo Wilder removes all but one pumpkin flower from his pumpkin vine, Here, to snip means to nip or remove growing buds (hence, to nip it in the bud) so that the remaining bud will receive all the nutrients and energy of the plant, thus growing larger.
Elsewhere in the "Little House"® books, to snip is used as a verb to show the action of removing a small piece of something, or - as a noun - meaning the small piece that was removed, such as the bits of ribbon used to designate prizes at the County Fair.
In On the Banks of Plum Creek, the grasshoppers snip (bite) small bits from leaves and plants, removing them in order to eat them.
snip, to cut / a cutting (FB 14-15, 17, 21-22; BPC 25)
hoity-toity snip, see hoity-toity snip
