By the 1800s , snuff — powderize , normally snort - able tobacco — had become such a long - standing societal fixity in the UK and U.S. that phrases started popping up around the news itself . To outfox to snuff , forinstance , imply to practiced your opposite so thoroughly that you figuratively cut them to powderise . In high snuff , meanwhile , described someone in high-pitched spirits ( maybe a nod to the buzz you ’d get after usingtobacco ) .
But the most prevailing example is probablyup to snuff , which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as “ knowing , keen , not easily deceived , ” and “ up to the required or common standard . ” Unlike the aforementioned musical phrase , the connection between pulverized tobacco and being savvy or merging requirements is n’t quite clear . On his World Wide Christian Bible web log , Michael Quinionsuggeststhat it may have had to do with snuff ’s largest user demographic : moneyed men “ who would be able to appreciate the quality of sniff and separate between example of unlike time value . ”
What we do lie with is thatup to snuffhad entered the British mental lexicon by 1807 , when it appeared in a London newspaper — the earliest known written reference of the phrase , according toMerriam - Webster . Only fragments of the passage are legible : “ … asked a young peeress if she would have a taking into custody of sniff , and on … in the negative , he facetiously honour … suppose you areup to snuff . ”
It came up again inHamlet Travestie : In Three Acts , an 1810 parody ofShakespeare’sHamletby British playwright John Poole . Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are explaining to the king that Hamlet wo n’t divulge why he ’s been strangely disconsolate , and Guildenstern articulate , “ He ’ll not be sounded ; he knows well enough / The game we ’re after : Zooks , he ’s up to snuff . ”
After the play ’s ratiocination , Poole tot annotations and comment that he himself wrote in the phonation of literary luminary and Shakespearean scholar of earned run average past , including Alexander Pope , Samuel Johnson , George Steevens , and William Warburton . Though Poole - as - Warburton argues thatup to snuffwas referring to Hamlet ’s power to literally sniff out Rosencrantz and Guildenstern ’s subterranean motive , Poole - as - Johnson asserts that it was likely being used in its “ common acceptation ” as a reference to Hamlet ’s being “ a know one . ”Grose ’s Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongueechoed Poole - as - Johnson ’s understanding of the phrase in its 1823 edition , and so did Merriam - Webster in its 1864 dictionary .
As for how the idiom evolved to describe someone or something that meet standard , there ’s no vindicated path — though it makes sentience that someone considered know and astute would also be generally regarded as a person of virtue .
A rendering of this write up ply in 2021 ; it has been updated for 2023 .
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