nose

masculine singular present transgressive of nosit


nose

She had a small nose between two sparkling blue eyes.

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.[…].

1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

A protuberance on the face housing the nostrils, which are used to breathe or smell.

the nose of a tea-kettle, a bellows, or a fighter plane

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.

1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

Her crew knew that deep in her heart beat engines fit and able to push her blunt old nose ahead at a sweet fourteen knots, come Hell or high water.

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 1:

The bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, that fits into the hole of its adjacent piece.

Red Rum only won by a nose.

(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.

We are not offended with […] a dog for a better nose than his master.

Bouquet, the smell of something, especially wine.

It is essential that a winetaster develops a good nose.

A successful reporter has a nose for news.

(by extension) Skill at finding information.

(architecture) A downward projection from a cornice.

[…] M was a Magsman, frequenting Pall-Mall; / N was a Nose that turned chirp on his pal; […]

1846, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, page 60:

tab

the bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle

Sranan Tongo: noso

Aukan: nosu

Saramaccan: núsu

нос

tip of mammalian snout; beak of a bird; nos

nystyrä

马鼻 (maa⁵ bei⁶, literally “horse's nose”)

Audio (London, UK)

Audio (UK)

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


nose

The ship nosed through the minefield.

(intransitive) To move cautiously by advancing its front end.

She was nosing around other people’s business.

[…] if you finde him not this moneth, you ſhall noſe him as you go vp the ſtaires into the Lobby.

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 273:

Dogs hurried out to nose Edmund[.]

1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 18:

Real connoisseurs know that to nose and taste properly you have to add still water to your tulip-shaped glass so that the alcohol doesn't overwhelm you.

2002 October 20, Bob Morris, “Connoisseurship Runneth Over”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(transitive) To detect by smell or as if by smell.

[L]ambs are glad / Nosing the mother's udder, and the bird / Makes his heart voice among the blaze of flowers: […]

1868, Alfred Tennyson, “Lucretius”, in The Holy Grail and Other Poems, London: Strahan and Co., […], published 1870, →OCLC, page 211:

(transitive) To push with one's nose; to nuzzle.

(transitive) To defeat (as in a race or other contest) by a narrow margin; sometimes with out.

to nose a prayer

It makes far better musick when you nose Sternold's, or Wisdom's meeter.

c. 1635, William Cartwright, The Ordinary:

(transitive) To utter in a nasal manner; to pronounce with a nasal twang.

to nose a stair tread

(transitive) To confront; be closely face to face or opposite to.

(intransitive, aviation) To dive down in a steep angle; to nosedive

The plane is nosing up!

We have to get it nosing down.

(intransitive, aviation, nautical) To travel with the nose of the plane/ship aimed in a particular direction.

en-verb

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

noses (present singular third-person)
nosing (participle present)
nosed (participle past)
nosed (past)

Audio (London, UK)

Audio (UK)


nose

Ful semyly hir wympul pynched was / Hir nose tretys, hir eyen greye as glas[…]

a. 1394, Geoffrey Chaucer, “General Prologue”, in The Canterbury Tales, lines 151–152:

Her wimple was folded in quite a seemly way / Her nose [was] slender; her eyes [were] grey like glass […]

English: nose

Scots: nos, nose, nois

From Old English nosu, from Proto-West Germanic *nosu.


nose

English: noose

Probably from Old French nous, nos, nominative singular of nou, no (“knot”).


nose

nosar (present)
nosa (past)
nosa (participle past)
nosast (infinitive passive)
nosande (participle present)
nose (imperative)
nos (imperative)


nose

inflection of nosu:
accusative/genitive/dative singular

inflection of nosu:
nominative/accusative plural


nose

nose (nominative singular)
nosa (nominative plural)
nose (genitive singular)
nosa (genitive plural)
nosena (genitive plural)
nose (dative singular)
nosum (dative plural)
nosem (dative plural)
noson (dative plural)
nose (accusative singular)
nosa (accusative plural)

North Frisian: nös

Saterland Frisian: Noose

West Frisian: noas


nose

(text messaging) Short for no sé (“IDK”).