nosy

See also: носы

English

Alternative forms

• nosey

Etymology

From nose +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnəʊziː/
• (US) enPR: nō'-zē, IPA^(key): /ˈnoʊzi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

nosy (comparative nosier or more nosy, superlative nosiest or most nosy)

1. Prying, inquisitive or curious in other’s affairs; tending to snoop or meddle.

   They built tall fences, yet the nosy neighbors always seemed to know everything about them.

2. Having a large or elongated nose.
   • 1962, Paul Engle, Golden Child, page 25:

     "Look at you, a handsome man of thirty, with thick brown hair and a nosy nose and enormous feet and hands that can drive a team of horses or a yoke of oxen or," she hesitated in a brief shyness, and then went on, "a loving wife."

   • 1971, William Cooper, You want the right frame of reference, page 22:

     She had the same sort of handsome, square-cut features as Timothy, with the difference that her nose was small and short — it was obvious that Timothy got his thick dark hair, his brown eyes and his nosy nose from his father, that vigorous impresario who had died suddenly of a heart-attack, his first, two years before the War began.

   • 1982, Art Journal - Volumes 42-43, page 322:

     The problem is particularly acute in caricature when a variety of divergent features is forced into a precarious union, when a "nosy" nose is trying to get along with a hesitant mouth and vigilant eyebrows.

   • 2005, R. G. Crouch, The Coat: The Origin and Times of Doggett's Famous Wager, page 99:

     Nosy in his looks by the large hooked proboscis, which dominated his face, as well as by character, Ebenezer wanted, perhaps even needed, to know everyone's business.

Synonyms

• interfering
• kibitzing
• meddlesome

Derived terms

• nosy parker, nosey parker

Translations

prying, inquisitive or curious in other’s affairs; tending to snoop or meddle

• Arabic: فُضُولِيّ (ar) (fuḍūliyy)

  Hijazi Arabic: مَلْقوف (malgūf)

• Bulgarian: любопитен (bg) (ljubopiten)
• Catalan: dotor (ca), tafaner (ca) m
• Cebuano: ukiton, maukit-ukiton
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 多管閒事／多管闲事 (zh) (duōguǎnxiánshì)

• Cornish: tronek, tron-droghya
• Czech: vlezlý, vtíravý
• Dutch: nieuwsgierig (nl), curieus (nl)
• Esperanto: maldiskreta
• Finnish: utelias (fi)
• French: fouineur (fr) m, fureteur (fr) m, curieux (fr) m
• Galician: entremetido
• German: neugierig (de), topfguckerisch (dialectal)
• Hungarian: tolakodó (hu), indiszkrét (hu), kotnyeles (hu)
• Hutterisch: niesheerich
• Icelandic: forvitinn
• Italian: ficcanaso (it)
• Jamaican Creole: fass
• Japanese: おせっかいな (ja) (osekkai na)
• Kabuverdianu: atrividu, atrevide
• Macedonian: љубо́питен (ljubópiten), љубо́питник m (ljubópitnik)
• Maori: mahira, ihu kurī, māhirahira
• Norwegian:

  Nynorsk: forviten

• Persian: فضول (fa) (fozul)
• Polish: wścibski (pl)
• Portuguese: intrometido (pt), cusco (pt), metediço (pt), coscuvelheiro m, abelhudo (pt) m, cusca (pt) m, bisbilhoteiro m, bilhardeiro m
• Russian: любопы́тный (ru) (ljubopýtnyj)
• Slovak: vtieravý
• Spanish: chismoso (es) m, metiche, metido (es) m, metijón m, metomentodo (es), entremetido (es) m, cotilla (es)
• Swedish: nyfiken (sv)
• Turkish: meraklı bakkal (informal idiomatic)
• Vietnamese: lắm chuyện (vi), nhiều chuyện (vi), đa sự, đa đoan (vi), thọc mạch
• Welsh: busneslyd (cy)

having a large nose

• Czech: nosatý
• Finnish: isonenäinen
• Polish: nosaty (pl)
• Russian: носатый (ru) (nosatyj)
• Slovak: nosatý (sk)
• Spanish: narigudo (es) m, narigón (es) m, narizotas m or m pl or f or f pl

Noun

nosy (plural nosies)

1. (UK, slang) A look at something to satisfy one's curiosity.

   I might wander down to the construction site for a nosy at what they're building.

2. (childish, rare) A nose.

   Alternative form: nosie

   • 1890, Laura E[lizabeth] Richards, “Rosy Posy”, in In My Nursery, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, page 174:

     There was a little Rosy, / And she had a little nosy; / And she made a little posy, / All pink and white and green. / And she said, “Little nosy, / Will you smell my little posy? / For of all the flowers that growsy, / Such sweet ones ne’er were seen.” / So she took the little posy, / And she put it to her nosy, / On her little face so rosy, / The flowers for to smell; […]

   • 2004 December 19, Mandel Comanda, “[What the holidays mean to me] It’s for family and friends”, in Sunday Courier News, page 140, column 3:

     It’s this time of year when you’re warm and cozy and white snowflakes fall on your little nosy.

   • 2011, Miljenko Jergović, chapter IV, in Stephen M. Dickey, transl., Ruta Tannenbaum, Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, →ISBN, page 25:

     Who’s my little mouse? Whose little nosy is this? Who has the biggest eyesies in Agramstadt?

   • 2013, Jacqueline Wilson, Queenie, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 133:

     She pretended to pull off his nose and then held her fist in front of Michael’s face, her thumb peeping out between her fingers. ‘There – I’ve got your nose now!’ […] She pressed her thumb onto his little face. ‘Here’s your little nosy, back safe and sound between your rosy cheeks,’ she said.

Verb

nosy (third-person singular simple present nosies, present participle nosying, simple past and past participle nosied)

1. (informal, with into) To pry into something.

   My brother always nosies into my diary.

Anagrams

• Noys, Sony, Yons, noys, sony, syno, syon

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈnosɪ]

Noun

nosy

1. nominative/accusative/vocative/instrumental plural of nos

Malagasy

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nusa. Compare Malay nusa.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

nosy

1. island (area of land completely surrounded by water)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɔ.sɘ/
• Rhymes: -ɔsɘ
• Syllabification: no‧sy

Noun

nosy m inan

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of nos