Long-legged wading birds with long bills that live in marshes; or critical attacks/insults made from a safe distance or in hiding.
From the bird species. The figurative verb sense (to shoot from a hiding place, then to criticize from safety) comes from hunting sniping at the difficult-to-hit birds, which required skill and concealment.
The word 'sniper' actually comes from 'snipe' hunters—the birds are so hard to hit that someone skilled enough to hunt them was called a 'sniper.' So snipers are named after how difficult wading birds are to shoot!
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