Snoods Defined. For over 1,500 years, the word snood has described what many modern people commonly refer to as a hairnet. Traditionally, however, and in many modern uses as well, a snood is much more elegant than a simple hairnet, and it offers a touch of style to an otherwise rather practical hair arrangement.lternate Types of Snoods. The word snood actually has many meanings outside of the retail industry. It is a game, an urban descriptor of a person with certain character traits, and it is the protruding tissue on the top of a turkey's head.