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English
Nose: the sensory organ
Etymology
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 ” ) .
Pronunciation
Noun
nose (plural noses )
A protuberance on the face housing the nostrils , which are used to breathe or smell .
She had a small nose between two sparkling blue eyes.
A snout , the nose of an animal.
The tip of an object.
the nose of a tea-kettle, a bellows, or a fighter plane
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, II, or III) , New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing , 1927 , →OCLC :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.
1932 , Delos W. Lovelace , King Kong , published 1965 , page 1: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.
The bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle , that fits into the hole of its adjacent piece.
( 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 .
A perfumer .
The power of smelling.
c. 1700 , Jeremy Collier , Of Envy :We are not offended with [ …] a dog for a better nose than his master.
Bouquet , the smell of something, especially wine.
The skill in recognising bouquet.
It is essential that a winetaster develops a good nose .
( by extension ) Skill at finding information.
A successful reporter has a nose for news.
( architecture ) A downward projection from a cornice .
Synonym: drip
( slang ) An informer .
Synonym: nark
1846 , George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London , page 60 :[ …] M was a Magsman, frequenting Pall-Mall; / N was a Nose that turned chirp on his pal; [ …]
Synonyms
Derived terms
Descendants
Translations
See also
Verb
nose (third-person singular simple present noses , present participle nosing , simple past and past participle nosed )
( intransitive ) To move cautiously by advancing its front end.
The ship nosed through the minefield.
( intransitive ) To snoop .
She was nosing around other people’s business.
( transitive ) To detect by smell or as if by smell.
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 Blount , published 1623 , →OCLC , , page 273 :[ …] if you finde him not this moneth, you ſhall noſe him as you go vp the ſtaires into the Lobby.
1938 , Norman Lindsay , Age of Consent , 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith , published 1962 , →OCLC , page 18 :Dogs hurried out to nose Edmund[.]
2002 October 20, Bob Morris, “Connoisseurship Runneth Over”, in The New York Times , →ISSN :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.
( transitive ) To push with one's nose; to nuzzle .
1868 , Alfred Tennyson , “Lucretius”, in The Holy Grail and Other Poems , London: Strahan and Co. , , published 1870 , →OCLC , page 211 :[L]ambs are glad / Nosing the mother's udder, and the bird / Makes his heart voice among the blaze of flowers: [ …]
( transitive ) To defeat (as in a race or other contest ) by a narrow margin ; sometimes with out .
( transitive ) To utter in a nasal manner; to pronounce with a nasal twang .
to nose a prayer
c. 1635 , William Cartwright , The Ordinary :It makes far better musick when you nose Sternold's, or Wisdom's meeter.
( transitive ) To furnish with a nose.
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
Derived terms
Translations
to win by a narrow margin
Translations to be checked
Anagrams
ENSO , Enos , NEOs , Neso , SONE , Sone , eons , neos , noes , one's , ones , sone
Czech
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Noun
nose
vocative / locative singular of nos
Etymology 2
Verb
nose
masculine singular present transgressive of nosit
Related terms
Japanese
Romanization
nose
Rōmaji transcription of のせ
Lower Sorbian
Pronunciation
Noun
nose
nominative / accusative plural of nos
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Old English nosu , from Proto-West Germanic *nosu .
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
IPA (key ) : /ˈnɔːz(ə)/ , /ˈnɔs(ə)/
Noun
nose (plural noses or nosen )
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 slender; her eyes grey like glass
beak , nose-shaped protrusion
Descendants
References
Etymology 2
Probably from Old French nous , nos , nominative singular of nou , no ( “ knot ” ) .
Pronunciation
Noun
nose (plural noses )
( rare , Late Middle English ) noose
Descendants
References
Northern Sotho
Etymology
From Proto-Bantu *njíkɪ̀ .
Noun
nose
bee
Norwegian Nynorsk
Alternative forms
nosa ( a- and split infinitives )
Verb
nose (present tense nosar , past tense nosa , past participle nosa , passive infinitive nosast , present participle nosande , imperative nose /nos )
( transitive ) to sniff , nose
References
“nose” in The Nynorsk Dictionary .
Anagrams
Old English
Pronunciation
Noun
nose
inflection of nosu :
accusative / genitive / dative singular
nominative / accusative plural
Old Frisian
Alternative forms
Noun
nose f
nose
Inflection
Descendants
North Frisian: nös
Saterland Frisian: Noose
West Frisian: noas
Serbo-Croatian
Verb
nose (Cyrillic spelling носе )
third-person plural present of nositi
Slovak
Noun
nose
locative singular of nos