Meaning
Of a satisfactory or acceptable standard: 'the second rehearsal wasn't up to snuff'. Usually negated ('not up to snuff') to criticize quality or performance. Originally it meant 'sharp, knowing, not easily deceived', a sense now largely historical. Informal register, mildly judgmental of quality; the older 'knowing, sharp' sense is now rare. Regional use: General English; often associated with American usage.
Origin
The phrase arose in early-19th-century slang. Etymonline dates 'up to snuff', meaning 'knowing, sharp, wide-awake, not likely to be deceived', to 1810 and prints a citation from John Poole's theatrical parody Hamlet Travestie (1811), which The Phrase Finder also cites: 'He knows well enough / The game we're after: Zooks, he's up to snuff', glossed by Poole as 'he is the knowing one'. Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1823 edition) records the extended slang form 'up to snuff and a pinch above it'. The derivation is debated. Etymonline favours a hunting metaphor - a dog that has the scent ('got the scent of the game we are in pursuit of') - while The Phrase Finder favours powdered tobacco snuff, fashionable from the 1680s, whose stimulating effect and association with fashionable, sharp individuals gave 'snuff' its knowing sense. The modern 'up to standard' sense (parallel to 'up to scratch') developed around the turn of the 20th century.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Be up to snuff
- Not up to snuff
- Up to snuff and a pinch above it
Usage Examples
- The sound mix in Act Two just wasn't up to snuff, so the director called another tech rehearsal.
- Inspectors warned that the hospital's record-keeping was not up to snuff.
- Her French was more than up to snuff for the Geneva negotiations, having spent three years in Lausanne.