nose

See also: no sé

English

Nose: the sensory organ

Etymology

From Middle English nose, from Old English nosu, from Proto-Germanic *nusō (compare Saterland Frisian Noose, West Frisian noas, Dutch neus, Swedish nos, Norwegian nos (snout), variant of *nasō (compare German Low German Nees, Nes, Näs, German Nase, Swedish näsa, Norwegian nese (nose)), old dual from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s- ~ *nh₂es- ‘nose, nostril’ (compare Latin nāris (nostril), nāsus (nose), Lithuanian nósis, Russian нос (nos), Sanskrit नासा (nā́sā, nostrils)).

Pronunciation

Noun

nose (plural noses)

  1. A protuberance on the face housing the nostrils, which are used to breathe or smell.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess:
      The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue.  [] .
    She has a cold in the nose.
  2. A snout, the nose of an animal.
  3. The tip of an object.
    the nose of a tea-kettle, a bellows, or a fighter plane
    • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV
      We submerged very slowly and without headway more than sufficient to keep her nose in the right direction, and as we went down, I saw outlined ahead of us the black opening in the great cliff.
  4. (horse racing) The length of a horse’s nose, used to indicate the distance between horses at the finish of a race, or any very close race.
    Red Rum only won by a nose.
  5. A perfumer.
  6. The power of smelling.
    • Collier
      We are not offended with a dog for a better nose than his master.
  7. Bouquet, the smell of something, especially wine.
  8. The skill in recognising bouquet.
    It is essential that a winetaster develops a good nose.
  9. (by extension) Skill at finding information.
    A successful reporter has a nose for news.
  10. (architecture) A downward projection from a cornice.
    Synonym: drip
  11. (slang) An informer.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See nose/translations § Noun.

See also

Verb

nose (third-person singular simple present noses, present participle nosing, simple past and past participle nosed)

  1. (intransitive) To move cautiously by advancing its front end.
    The ship nosed through the minefield.
  2. (intransitive) To snoop.
    She was nosing around other people’s business.
  3. (transitive) To detect by smell or as if by smell.
    • c. 1601, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 4, sc. 3,
      If you find him not within
      this month, you shall nose him as you go up the
      stairs into the lobby.
  4. (transitive) To push with one's nose; to nuzzle.
    • Tennyson
      lambs [] nosing the mother's udder
  5. (transitive) To defeat (as in a race or other contest) by a narrow margin; sometimes with out.
  6. (transitive) To utter in a nasal manner; to pronounce with a nasal twang.
    to nose a prayer
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Cowley to this entry?)
  7. (transitive) To furnish with a nose.
    to nose a stair tread
  8. (transitive) To confront; be closely face to face or opposite to.

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Anagrams


Japanese

Romanization

nose

  1. Rōmaji transcription of のせ

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnɔsɛ/, [ˈnɔsə]

Noun

nose

  1. nominative and accusative plural of nos

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English nosu, from Proto-Germanic *nusō, old dual from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s- (nose, nostril).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnɔːz(ə)/

Noun

nose (plural noses or nosen)

  1. nose (protrusion of the human face)
    • a. 1394, Geoffrey Chaucer, “General Prologue”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 151-152:
      Ful semyly hir wympul pynched was / Hir nose tretys, hir eyen greye as glas []
      Her wimple was folded in quite a seemly way / Her nose [was] slender; her eyes [were] grey like glass []
  2. beak, nose-shaped protrusion
Descendants

Etymology 2

From Old French nos.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnoːs(ə)/

Noun

nose (plural noses)

  1. noose
Descendants

Northern Sotho

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *ǹjíkɪ̀.

Noun

nose

  1. bee

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

nose

  1. past participle of nyse

Old English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈnose/, [ˈnoze]

Noun

nose

  1. inflection of nosu:
    1. accusative and genitive and dative singular
    2. nominative and accusative plural

Old Frisian

Noun

nose f

  1. nose

Inflection

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