Nose

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Nose, n. [AS. nosu; akin to D. neus, G. nase, OHG. nasa, Icel. nös, Sw. näsa, Dan. näse, Lith. nosis, Russ. nos', L. nasus, nares, Skr. nāsā, nās. Nasal, Nasturtium, Naze, Nostril, Nozzle.].

•  The prominent part of the face or anterior extremity of the head containing the nostrils and olfactory cavities; the olfactory organ. See Nostril, and Olfactory organ under Olfactory.  [1913 Webster]
•  The power of smelling; hence, scent.  [1913 Webster]

  "We are not offended with a dog for a better nose than his master."  [1913 Webster]
•  A projecting end or beak at the front of an object; a snout; a nozzle; a spout; as, the nose of a bellows; the nose of a teakettle.  [1913 Webster]

Nose bit (Carp.), a bit similar to a gouge bit, but having a cutting edge on one side of its boring end. -- Nose hammer (Mach.), a frontal hammer. -- Nose hole (Glass Making), a small opening in a furnace, before which a globe of crown glass is held and kept soft at the beginning of the flattening process. -- Nose key (Carp.), a fox wedge. -- Nose leaf (Zoöl.), a thin, broad, membranous fold of skin on the nose of many species of bats. It varies greatly in size and form. -- Nose of wax, (fig.), a person who is pliant and easily influenced. “A nose of wax to be turned every way.” Massinger -- Nose piece, the nozzle of a pipe, hose, bellows, etc.; the end piece of a microscope body, to which an objective is attached. -- To hold one's nose to the grindstone, To put one's nose to the grindstone, or To bring one's nose to the grindstone. See under Grindstone. -- To lead by the nose, to lead at pleasure, or to cause to follow submissively; to lead blindly, as a person leads a beast. Shak. -- To put one's nose out of joint, to humiliate one's pride, esp. by supplanting one in the affections of another. [Slang] -- To thrust one's nose into, to meddle officiously in. -- To wipe one's nose of, to deprive of; to rob. [Slang] -- on the nose, (a) exactly, accurately. (b) (racing) to win, as opposed to to place or to show.

Nose, v. t. 

•  To smell; to scent; hence, to track, or trace out.  [1913 Webster]
•  To touch with the nose; to push the nose into or against; hence, to interfere with; to treat insolently.  [1913 Webster]

  "Lambs . . . nosing the mother's udder."  [1913 Webster]

  "A sort of national convention, dubious in its nature . . . nosed Parliament in the very seat of its authority."  [1913 Webster]
•  To utter in a nasal manner; to pronounce with a nasal twang; as, to nose a prayer.  Cowley.  [1913 Webster]
•  To confront; be closely face to face or opposite to; meet.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  To furnish with a nose; as, to nose a stair tread.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  To examine with the nose or sense of smell.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  To make by advancing the nose or front end; as, the train nosed its way into the station;  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
•  to beat by (the length of) a nose.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Nose, v. i. 

 To push or move with the nose or front forward.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
"A train of cable cars came nosing along."  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Nose, v. i. 

•  To smell; to sniff; to scent.  Audubon.  [1913 Webster]
•  To pry officiously into what does not concern one; to nose around.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Nose, n. & v.
--n.
1 an organ above the mouth on the face or head of a human or animal, containing nostrils and used for smelling and breathing.
2 a the sense of smell (dogs have a good nose). b the ability to detect a particular thing (a nose for scandal).
3 the odour or perfume of wine, tea, tobacco, hay, etc.
4 the open end or nozzle of a tube, pipe, pair of bellows, retort, etc.
5 a the front end or projecting part of a thing, e.g. of a car or aircraft. b = NOSING.
6 sl. an informer of the police.
--v.
1 tr. (often foll. by out) a perceive the smell of, discover by smell. b detect.
2 tr. thrust or rub one's nose against or into, esp. in order to smell.
3 intr. (usu. foll. by about, around, etc.) pry or search.
4 a intr. make one's way cautiously forward. b tr. make (one's or its way).

Idiom

as plain as the nose on your face easily seen. by a nose by a very narrow margin (won the race by a nose). count noses count those present, one's supporters, etc.; decide a question by mere numbers. cut off one's nose to spite one's face disadvantage oneself in the course of trying to disadvantage another. get up a person's nose sl. annoy a person. keep one's nose clean sl. stay out of trouble, behave properly. keep one's nose to the grindstone see GRINDSTONE. nose-cone the cone-shaped nose of a rocket etc. nose-flute a musical instrument blown with the nose in Fiji etc. nose leaf a fleshy part on the nostrils of some bats, used for echo location. nose-monkey the proboscis monkey. nose-piece
1 = NOSEBAND.
2 the part of a helmet etc. protecting the nose.
3 the part of a microscope to which the object-glass is attached. nose-rag sl. a pocket handkerchief. nose-to-tail (of vehicles) moving or stationary one close behind another, esp. in heavy traffic. nose-wheel a landing-wheel under the nose of an aircraft.
on the nose
1 US sl. precisely.
2 Austral. sl. annoying. put a person's nose out of joint colloq. embarrass, disconcert, frustrate, or supplant a person. rub a person's nose in it see RUB. see no further than one's nose be short-sighted, esp. in foreseeing the consequences of one's actions etc. speak through one's nose pronounce words with a nasal twang. turn up one's nose (usu. foll. by at) colloq. show disdain. under a person's nose colloq. right before a person (esp. of defiant or unnoticed actions). with one's nose in the air haughtily.

Derivative

nosed adj. (also in comb.). noseless adj.

Etymology

OE nosu

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Nose

n. The extreme outpost of the face. From the circumstance that great conquerors have great noses, Getius, whose writings antedate the age of humor, calls the nose the organ of quell. It has been observed that one's nose is never so happy as when thrust into the affairs of others, from which some physiologists have drawn the inference that the nose is devoid of the sense of smell.

There's a man with a Nose,
And wherever he goes
The people run from him and shout:
"No cotton have we
For our ears if so be
He blow that interminous snout!"

So the lawyers applied
For injunction. "Denied,"
Said the Judge: "the defendant prefixion,
Whate'er it portend,
Appears to transcend
The bounds of this court's jurisdiction."
Arpad Singiny

THESAURUS

Nose

Adamite, Paul Pry, Paul-Pry, antlia, aptness, beak, beezer, being, bent, bib nozzle, bill, body, bow, bowsprit, breathe, breathe in, bugle, bump, busybody, butt-in, caress, cat, chap, character, conk, creature, customer, duck, earthling, faculty, feel up, fellow, figurehead, flair, follow, follow a clue, follow up, fondle, fool with, forecastle, foredeck, forepeak, genius, groundling, guy, hand, head, homo, human, human being, hunt down, individual, inhale, intermeddle, jib boom, joker, kibitz, kibitzer, knack, knead, life, living soul, man, massage, meddle, meddle with, meddler, mess with, monkey with, mortal, mouse, muffle, muzzle, nares, neb, nib, nose out, nostrils, nozzle, nuzzle, olfactories, olfactory area, olfactory cell, olfactory nerves, olfactory organ, olfactory pit, one, party, pecker, peek, peep, person, personage, personality, pet, poke, pragmatist, pressure nozzle, prier, proboscis, prore, prow, pry, quidnunc, rhinarium, rose, rosehead, rostrum, rub, rub against, rub noses, rubberneck, run down, run to earth, scent, schnozzle, shadow, shower head, single, smell, smell of, smell out, smeller, sniff, sniff out, snitch, snook, snoop, snoot, snout, snuff, snuffle, somebody, someone, soul, spray nozzle, sprinkler head, spy, stalk, stem, stroke, tail, talent, tamper with, tellurian, terran, trace, trace down, track, track down, trail, trunk, whiff, worldling

ROGET THESAURUS

Nose

Convexity

N convexity, prominence, projection, swelling, gibbosity, bilge, bulge, protuberance, protrusion, camber, cahot, thank-ye-ma'am, swell, intumescence, tumour, tumor, tubercle, tuberosity, excrescence, hump, hunch, bunch, boss, embossment, hub, hubble, tooth, knob, elbow, process, apophysis, condyle, bulb, node, nodule, nodosity, tongue, dorsum, bump, clump, sugar loaf, bow, mamelon, molar, belly, corporation, pot belly, gut, withers, back, shoulder, lip, flange, pimple, zit, wen, wheel, papula, pustule, pock, proud flesh, growth, sarcoma, caruncle, corn, wart, pappiloma, furuncle, polypus, fungus, fungosity, exostosis, bleb, blister, blain, boil, airbubble, blob, papule, verruca, papilla, nipple, teat, tit, titty, boob, knocker, pap, breast, dug, mammilla, proboscis, nose, neb, beak, snout, nozzle, schnoz, peg, button, stud, ridge, rib, jutty, trunnion, snag, cupola, dome, arch, balcony, eaves, pilaster, relief, relievo, cameo, bassorilievo, mezzorilevo, altorivievo, low relief, bas relief, high relief, hill, cape, promontory, mull, forehead, foreland, point of land, mole, jetty, hummock, ledge, spur, naze, ness, convex, prominent, protuberant, projecting, bossed, embossed, bossy, nodular, bunchy, clavate, clavated, claviform, hummocky, moutonne, mammiliform, papulous, papilose, hemispheric, bulbous, bowed, arched, bold, bellied, tuberous, tuberculous, tumous, cornute, odontoid, lentiform, lenticular, gibbous, club shaped, hubby, hubbly, knobby, papillose, saddle-shaped, selliform, subclavate, torose, ventricose, verrucose, salient, in relief, raised, repousse, bloated, (expanded).

Odor

VB have an odor, smell, smell of, smell strong of, exhale, give out a smell, reek, reek of, scent, smell, scent, snuff, snuff up, sniff, nose, inhale.

Curiosity

VB be curious, take an interest in, stare, gape, prick up the ears, see sights, lionize, pry, nose, rubberneck.

Inquiry

VB make inquiry, inquire, ask, seek, search, look for, look about for, look out for, scan, reconnoiter, explore, sound, rummage, ransack, pry, peer, look round, look over, go over, look through, go through, spy, overhaul, ask about, inquire about, scratch the head, slap the forehead, look into every hole and corner, peer into every hole and corner, pry into every hole and corner, nose, trace up, search out, hunt down, hunt out, fish out, ferret out, unearth, leave no stone unturned, seek a clue, seek a clew, hunt, track, trail, mouse, dodge, trace, follow the trail, follow the scent, pursue, beat up one's quarters, fish for, feel for, investigate, take up an inquiry, institute an inquiry, pursue an inquiry, follow up an inquiry, conduct an inquiry, carry on an inquiry, carry out an inquiry, prosecute an inquiry, look at, look into, preexamine, discuss, canvass, agitate, examine, study, consider, calculate, dip into, dive into, delve into, go deep into, make sure of, probe, sound, fathom, probe to the bottom, probe to the quick, scrutinize, analyze, anatomize, dissect, parse, resolve, sift, winnow, view in all its phases, try in all its phases, thresh out, bring in question, bring into question, subject to examination, put to the proof, audit, tax, pass in review, take into consideration, take counsel, question, demand, put the question, pop the question, propose the question, propound the question, moot the question, start the question, raise the question, stir the question, suggest the question, put forth the question, ventilate the question, grapple with the question, go into a question, question, put to the question, interrogate, pump, subject to interrogation, subject to examination, cross-question, cross-examine, press for an answer, give the third degree, put to the inquisition, dodge, catechize, require an answer, pick the brains of, suck the brains of, feel the pulse, get the lay of the land, see how the wind is blowing, put one's ear to the ground, be in question, undergo examination.