nose glasses

English

A pair of rimless nose glasses

A woman wearing nose glasses

Alternative forms

• noseglasses
• nose-glasses

Noun

nose glasses pl (plural only)

1. (historical) A style of eyeglasses without earpieces, often attached to a cord or ribbon allowing them to be hung around the neck.

   Synonyms: pince-nez, pinch-nose glasses

   • 1825, William Henry Pyne (as Ephraim Hardcastle), The Twenty-Ninth of May, London: Knight and Lacey, Volume 1, Chapter 4, p. 105,

     Old Waller, elbowing his way through the crowd, planted himself right before his shop, putting on his nose-glasses, and measuring the amount of the damage;

   • 1885, Vanity Fair, Volume 33, p. 140, “Diary of Rasper, M.P.,”

     Speaker, nervously twiddling nose-glasses, instinctively stretches out hand for new Procedure Rules, like Old Bailey Judge fumbling for black cap.

   • 1929, Dashiell Hammett, The Dain Curse‎, New York: Vintage, published 1972, Part 2, Chapter 10, p. 81:

     There was blood on the altar steps, and on the floor below, where his noseglasses, unbroken, on the end of their black ribbon, lay.

   • 1964, Hortense Calisher, Extreme Magic‎, Boston: Little, Brown, page 124:

     Raising his head, Mr. Elkin took off his noseglasses and rubbed at the inflamed prints on either side of his nose.

2. A pair of eyeglasses (or eyeglass frames) to which is attached a hollow false nose, worn as a humorous disguise.
   • 2007, Steve Martin, Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life‎, New York: Scribner, published 2008, page 40:

     The magic shop purveyed such goodies as the arrow-through-the-head and nose glasses, props I turned into professional assets later on.