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nose

noun
/nəʊ̯z/UK/nəwz//noʊ̯z/US

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”), Low German Nääs, German Nase, Swedish näsa, Norwegian nese, Danish næse (“nose”); also Latin nāris (“nostril”), nāsus (“nose”), Lithuanian nósis, Russian нос (nos), Sanskrit नासा (nā́sā, “nostrils”).

  1. derived from *néh₂s-✻
  2. inherited from *nosu✻
  3. inherited from nosu
  4. inherited from nose

Definitions

  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.
    • 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
    • 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.
    • 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.
  4. ›+ 20 more definitions

    1. The bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, that fits into the hole of its…

      The bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, that fits into the hole of its adjacent piece.

    2. The length of a horse’s nose, used to indicate the distance between horses at the finish…

      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.

    3. A perfumer.

      • Jacques Polge, Chanel's top “nose” since 1978, made the decision when developers started trying to buy up land around Grasse, where the Muls cultivate three hectares of the precious plant.

    4. The sense of smell.

      • We are not offended with […] a dog for a better nose than his master.

    5. Bouquet, the smell of something, especially wine.

    6. The skill in recognising bouquet.

      • It is essential that a winetaster develops a good nose.

    7. Skill at finding information.

      • A successful tabloid reporter has a nose for gossip.

    8. The action of nosing, in the sense to snoop

      • They had a nose around the abandoned property.

    9. A downward projection from a cornice.

    10. An informer.

      • […] M was a Magsman, frequenting Pall-Mall; / N was a Nose that turned chirp on his pal; […]

    11. To move cautiously by advancing its front end.

      • The ship nosed through the minefield.
      • Promontory's "last spike" ceremony was so significant to the USA's history that it is still regularly re-enacted today, using replica locomotives that nose up to each other just as the originals did.

    12. To snoop.

      • She was nosing around other people’s business.

    13. To detect by smell or as if by smell.

      • […] if you finde him not this moneth, you ſhall noſe him as you go vp the ſtaires into the Lobby.
      • Dogs hurried out to nose Edmund[.]
      • 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.

    14. To push with one's nose

      To push with one's nose; to nuzzle.

      • [L]ambs are glad / Nosing the mother's udder, and the bird / Makes his heart voice among the blaze of flowers: […]

    15. To defeat (as in a race or other contest) by a narrow margin

      To defeat (as in a race or other contest) by a narrow margin; sometimes with out.

    16. To utter in a nasal manner

      To utter in a nasal manner; to pronounce with a nasal twang.

      • to nose a prayer
      • It makes far better musick when you nose Sternold's, or Wisdom's meeter.

    17. To furnish with a nose.

      • to nose a stair tread

    18. To confront

      To confront; be closely face to face or opposite to.

    19. To dive down in a steep angle

      To dive down in a steep angle; to nosedive

    20. 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.

The neighborhood

Derived

aquiline nose, Australasian pig-nose turtle, banana-nose, banana nose, bignose, bishop's nose, blacknose, bloodied nose, blood nose, bloody nose, blow one's nose, bluenose, blue-nosed, bluntnose, bottlenose, bottle-nose, bottle-nose dolphin, brownnose, bullet-nose, bullnose, bull's nose, button nose, camel's nose, cherry nose, clown nose, coke nose, conenose, copper nose, cownose, cut off one's nose to spite one's face, dicknose, dog-nose, dog's nose, Dudley nose, ear, nose and throat, empty nose syndrome, e-nose, flatnose, follow one's nose, fucknose · +229 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at nose. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01nose02nostrils03nostril04air05nitrogen06temperature07serves08serve09shuttlecock

A definitional loop anchored at nose. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at nose

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA