nose

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See also: no sé, носе, ноше, and nóšě

English[edit]

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Nose: the sensory organ

Etymology[edit]

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[edit]

Noun[edit]

nose (plural noses)

  1. 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.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess‎[1]:
      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.  […] .
  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
  4. The bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, that fits into the hole of its adjacent piece.
  5. (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.
  6. A perfumer.
  7. The power of smelling.
    • c. 1700, Jeremy Collier, Of Envy:
      We are not offended with […] a dog for a better nose than his master.
  8. Bouquet, the smell of something, especially wine.
  9. The skill in recognising bouquet.
    It is essential that a winetaster develops a good nose.
  10. (by extension) Skill at finding information.
    A successful reporter has a nose for news.
  11. (architecture) A downward projection from a cornice.
    Synonym: drip
  12. (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[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

  • Sranan Tongo: noso

Translations[edit]

See nose/translations § Noun.

See also[edit]

Verb[edit]

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. 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:
      […] 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[2], →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.
  4. (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: […]
  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
    • c. 1635, William Cartwright, The Ordinary:
      It makes far better musick when you nose Sternold's, or Wisdom's meeter.
  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[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Anagrams[edit]

Czech[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Noun[edit]

nose

  1. vocative/locative singular of nos

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

nose

  1. masculine singular present transgressive of nosit
Related terms[edit]

Japanese[edit]

Romanization[edit]

nose

  1. Rōmaji transcription of のせ

Lower Sorbian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈnɔsɛ/, [ˈnɔsə]

Noun[edit]

nose

  1. nominative/accusative plural of nos

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

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

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

nose (plural noses or nosen)

  1. nose (protrusion of the human face)
    • a. 1394, Geoffrey Chaucer, “General Prologue”, in The Canterbury Tales‎[3], 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[edit]
References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

nose (plural noses)

  1. (rare, Late Middle English) noose
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]

Northern Sotho[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Bantu *njíkɪ̀.

Noun[edit]

nose

  1. bee

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • nosa (a- and split infinitives)

Verb[edit]

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

  1. (transitive) to sniff, nose

References[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Old English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

nose

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

Old Frisian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

nose f

  1. nose

Inflection[edit]

Declension of nose (ō-stem)
singular plural
nominative nose nosa
genitive nose nosa, nosena
dative nose nosum, nosem, noson
accusative nose nosa

Descendants[edit]

Serbo-Croatian[edit]

Verb[edit]

nose (Cyrillic spelling носе)

  1. third-person plural present of nositi

Slovak[edit]

Noun[edit]

nose

  1. locative singular of nos
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