nosh

English

WOTD – 11 February 2016

Etymology

From Yiddish נאַשן‎ (nashn), from Middle High German naschen (“nibble”) (which is also the parent of German naschen), from Old High German naskōn (“to nibble; parasite”), from Proto-West Germanic *hnaskwōn (“to weaken; make soft; tenderise”). Doublet of nesh.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /nɑʃ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɒʃ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒʃ

Noun

nosh (countable and uncountable, plural noshes)

1. (slang, UK) Food.
2. (slang, US) A light meal or snack.
3. (Polari) Fellatio.

Derived terms

• (food): noshery (“restaurant”), nosh-up

Translations

snack — see snack

slang: food — see grub

blowjob — see blowjob

Verb

nosh (third-person singular simple present noshes, present participle noshing, simple past and past participle noshed)

1. (slang, intransitive, usually with on) To eat a snack or light meal.

   They were noshing on fruit.

2. (Polari) To perform fellatio (on); to blow.

Related terms

• (to eat): nosh up (“meal; feast”)
• (to fellate): nosh off

Translations

snack — see snack

to perform fellatio (on) — see blow

Anagrams

• Hons, NOHs, Nohs, Shon

Narragansett

Noun

nòsh

1. possessed form of osh: my father

Further reading

• Roger Williams (1643) A Key into the Language of America, London: Gregory Dexter, →OCLC, page 28