Snicker \Snick"er\, n. A half suppressed, broken laugh. [Written also {snigger}.]
Snicker \Snick"er\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Snickered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Snickering}.] [Cf. D. snikken to sob, to sigh.] [Written also {snigger}.] 1. To laugh slyly; to laugh in one's sleeve.
2. To laugh with audible catches of voice, as when persons attempt to suppress loud laughter.
We call it the snicker factor.
And people snicker a lot about sex.
And that is if they don't snicker every time Pat Robertson gives thanks to God.
By the time William Faulkner worked on the baroque and ultimately incomprehensible film adaptation of Chandler's "The Big Sleep" in 1946, you could hear the fatal snicker of self-parody in the noir night.