nose

See also: no sé, носе, ноше, and nóšě

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English Wikipedia has an article on:

nose

Wikipedia

English Wikipedia has an article on:

human nose

Wikipedia

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

(Received Pronunciation) enPR: nōz, IPA^(key): [nəʊ̯z]
- Audio (London, UK): (file)
(Standard Southern British) enPR: nōz, IPA^(key): [nəwz]
- Audio (UK): (file)
(MLE) enPR: nōz, IPA^(key): [noːz]
(Ireland) enPR: nōz, IPA^(key): [noʊ̯z], [nəʊ̯z]
(General American) enPR: nōz, IPA^(key): [noʊ̯z]
- Audio: (file)
Homophones: knows, noes, nos
Rhymes: -əʊz

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.
- 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
  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. […].
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 to 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 sense of smell.
- 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

(the bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle): tab
See also Thesaurus:nose

Derived terms

Descendants

Sranan Tongo: noso
- Aukan: nosu
- Saramaccan: núsu

Translations

See nose/translations § Noun.

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[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, →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
(intransitive, aviation, nautical) To travel with the nose of the plane/ship aimed in a particular direction.
The plane is nosing up!

We have to get it nosing down.

Derived terms

Translations

to move cautiously

Danish: liste (da)
Finnish: tunnustella (fi), liikkua varovaisesti
Italian: andare a naso
Russian: осторожно дви́гаться (ru) (dvígatʹsja), кра́сться (ru) (krástʹsja)
Swedish: smyga (sv)

to snoop

Danish: snuse
Finnish: nuuskia (fi)
German: schnüffeln (de)
Italian: mettere il naso
Macedonian: душка (duška)
Maori: māhirahira
Polish: wścibiać nos impf
Romanian: băga nasul
Russian: сова́ть нос в чужи́е дела́ (sovátʹ nos v čužíje delá), вынюхивать (ru) (vynjuxivatʹ)
Swedish: nosa (sv), snoka (sv), lägga näsan i blöt (sv)

to detect

Finnish: haistaa (fi)
Italian: nasare, annusare (it), fiutare (it)
Korean: 맡다 (ko) (matda)
Polish: węszyć (pl) impf
Romanian: mirosi (ro)
Russian: чу́ять (ru) (čújatʹ), слы́шать запах (slýšatʹ zapax)
Swedish: vädra (sv)

to push with the nose

Finnish: nuuhkia (fi)
Russian: толка́ть носом (tolkátʹ nosom)

to win by a narrow margin

Finnish: voittaa hiuksenhienosti
Italian: vincere per un soffio

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

Translations to be checked

Swedish: ^{(please verify)} lägga sig i (sv), ^{(please verify)} lägga näsan i blöt (sv), ^{(please verify)} snoka (sv)

References

“nose”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.