schneid

noun

ˈshnīd

US slang

: a losing streak (as in sports)

If the AFC breaks the Super Bowl schneid this season, it'll be an upset …—

Peter King

—usually used in the phrases on the schneid and off the schneid

It seems so hard to believe now, but back in April the New York Yankees, the team that would break the record for single season wins, started its season on the schneid. An 0-3 start? That had serious schneid written all over it.—

Bill Duryea

D.C. United (0-3-1) finally got off the schneid [=ended its losing streak] Thursday night, collecting its first point of the season in a 1-1 tie …—

George Solomon

Examples of schneid in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Indianapolis has gone nine consecutive seasons without a win in its opener, coming closest to breaking the schneid with a furious comeback to tie the Texans in Houston a year ago. —

The Indianapolis Star, 9 Sep. 2023 In The week after Kansas handed the ignominious title of Power Five conference team with the longest streak of being unranked to Illinois, the Illini are now off the schneid in their second year under coach Bret Bielema. —

Ralph D. Russo, Chicago Tribune, 9 Oct. 2022 The week after Kansas handed the ignominious title of Power Five conference team with the longest streak of being unranked to Illinois, the Illini are now off the schneid in their second year under coach Bret Bielema. —

Ralph D. Russo, ajc, 9 Oct. 2022 The Raiders got off the schneid last week, but have lost three straight versus Kansas City. —

Tyler Dragon, USA TODAY, 6 Oct. 2022 In that vein, the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and reigning AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals are relieved to be off the schneid, all of them winning Sunday. —

Nate Davis, USA TODAY, 26 Sep. 2022 Johnny Bebie, Rocky River: Bebie’s 225 yards and three TDs on 16 carries got the Pirates off the schneid with their first win, 38-6 at Lakewood. —

Matt Goul, cleveland, 11 Sep. 2022 But senior Max Durbin’s 4-yard 4th-quarter TD run and Hayden Reischman’s kick finally got Newark off the schneid. —

Jonathan X. Simmons, cleveland, 30 Aug. 2022 In his lucky 13th NFL season, but his first with a new team, the longtime Detroit Lions quarterback has gotten off the schneid. —

Carlos Monarrez, USA TODAY, 20 Jan. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'schneid.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

earlier, "failure to score a point (in gin rummy)," short for schneider in same sense, earlier, as adjective, "having scored 30 or fewer points (in skat)," borrowed from German Schneider, literally, "tailor," in the idioms aus dem Schneider sein "to have scored more than 30 points (in skat)," literally, "to be out of the tailor," (im) Schneider sein, Schneider werden "to score less than 30 points," literally, "to be/become (a) tailor / be in the tailor"; Schneider going back to Middle High German snīdære, derivative (with -ære, agent suffix, going back to Old High German -āri -er entry 2) of snīden "to cut," going back to Old High German snīdan, going back to Germanic *snīþan- (whence Old English snīðan "to cut," Old Saxon snīthan, Old Norse sníða, Gothic sneiþan), of uncertain origin

Note: The German card-playing idioms aus dem Schneider sein, im Schneider sein, etc., presumably allude to stereotypes of the tailor as poor, miserable, timid, or the like, as reflected in such expressions as (armer) Schneider "poor wretch" (literally, "poor tailor"), er ist ein Schneider "he looks like death warmed-over" (literally, "he is a tailor"), frieren wie ein Schneider "be cold to the bone" (literally, "freeze like a tailor").

First Known Use

1960, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of schneid was in 1960

See more words from the same year