nose
(noʊz )
Word forms: noses , nosing , nosed
1. countable noun [oft poss NOUN] A1
Your nose is the part of your face which sticks out above your mouth. You use it for smelling and breathing.
She wiped her nose with a tissue.
She's got funny eyes and a big nose.
Synonyms: snout, bill, beak [slang], hooter [slang]
2. countable noun [oft poss NOUN]
The nose of a vehicle such as a car or aeroplane is the front part of it.
Sue parked off the main street, with the van's nose pointing away from the street.
3. countable noun
You can refer to your sense of smell as your nose.
The river that runs through Middlesbrough became ugly on the eye and hard on the nose.
4. singular noun [usu by a N]
If a horse wins a race by a nose, it wins by a very small distance. [mainly US]
Chirkpar rattled past him on the right to snatch the prize by a nose.
5. verb
If a vehicle noses in a certain direction or if you nose it there, you move it slowly and carefully in that direction.
He could not see the driver as the car nosed forward. [VERB adverb/preposition]
A motorboat nosed out of the mist and nudged into the branches of a tree. [VERB adverb/preposition]
Ben drove past them, nosing his car into the garage. [VERB noun preposition/adverb]
6. See also hard-nosed, toffee-nosed
7. to keep your nose clean phrase
If you keep your nose clean, you behave well and stay out of trouble. [informal]
If you kept your nose clean, you had a job for life.
8. to follow your nose phrase
If you follow your nose to get to a place, you go straight ahead or follow the most obvious route.
Just follow your nose and in about five minutes you're at the old railway.
9. follow one's nose phrase
If you follow your nose, you do something in a particular way because you feel it should be done like that, rather than because you are following any plan or rules.
You won't have to think, just follow your nose.
10. have a nose for sth phrase
If you say that someone has a nose for something, you mean that they have a natural ability to find it or recognize it.
He had a nose for trouble and a brilliant tactical mind.
Gergen had a great sense of news, a good nose for trends, and a wide range of contacts.
11. get up sb's nose phrase
If you say that someone or something gets up your nose, you mean that they annoy you. [British, informal]
He's just getting up my nose so much at the moment.
12. to look down your nose at someone phrase
If you say that someone looks down their nose at something or someone, you mean that they believe they are superior to that person or thing and treat them with disrespect. [disapproval]
I don't look down my nose at comedy.
They rather looked down their noses at anyone who couldn't speak French.
13. to pay through the nose phrase
If you say that you paid through the nose for something, you are emphasizing that you had to pay what you consider too high a price for it. [informal, emphasis]
We pay through the nose for a ticket then stand up all the way to work. [+ for]
14. to poke your nose into something phrase
If someone pokes their nose into something or sticks their nose into something, they try to interfere with it even though it does not concern them. [informal, disapproval]
We don't like strangers who poke their noses into our affairs.
Why did you have to stick your nose in?
15. rub sb's nose in sth phrase
To rub someone's nose in something that they do not want to think about, such as a failing or a mistake they have made, means to remind them repeatedly about it. [informal]
His enemies will attempt to rub his nose in past policy statements.
16. to cut off your nose to spite your face phrase
If you say that someone is cutting off their nose to spite their face, you mean they do something that they think will hurt someone, without realizing or caring that it will hurt themselves as well. [disapproval]
The industry's greed means it is cutting off its nose to spite its face.
17. nose to tail phrase regional note: in AM, use bumper-to-bumper
If vehicles are nose to tail, the front of one vehicle is close behind the back of another. [mainly British]
...a line of about twenty fast-moving trucks driving nose to tail.
18. to thumb your nose at someone phrase
If you thumb your nose at someone, you behave in a way that shows that you do not care what they think.
He has always thumbed his nose at the media.
19. turn up one's nose at sth phrase
If you turn up your nose at something, you reject it because you think that it is not good enough for you.
I'm not in a financial position to turn up my nose at several hundred thousand pounds.
20. under sb's nose phrase
If you do something under someone's nose, you do it right in front of them, without trying to hide it from them.
This had been happening right under my nose, and I had no idea.
21. to put someone's nose out of joint phrase
If something puts someone's nose out of joint, it upsets or offends them because it makes them feel less important or less valued. [informal]
Barry had his nose put out of joint by Lucy's aloof sophistication. [+ by]
Her sister-in-law's nose is a little out of joint.
Phrasal verbs:
nose around
regional note: in BRIT, also use nose about
phrasal verb
If you nose around or nose about, you look around a place that belongs to someone else, to see if you can find something interesting. [informal]
Security people were nosing around, and Cortez joined them. [VERB PARTICLE]
Vocabulary Builder
FACE hair eye ear nose jaw forehead cheek mouth chin Quotations:
Give me a man with a good allowance of nose
Idioms:
cut off your nose to spite your face
to do something in order to hurt another person, without realizing or caring that you will hurt yourself just as much or even more
The manager was not about to cut off his nose to spite his face by holding a grudge against a player whom he regards as 'phenomenal' and 'special'.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
follow your nose
to make decisions and behave in a particular way because you feel instinctively that this is what you should do, rather than because you are following any guidelines or rules
I'd started a bit of journalism, so I had a source of income. And I've just followed my nose doing that ever since.
to go straight ahead, or to follow the most obvious route
More or less follow your nose till you come to Marks and Spencer's. Bear right there. And it's there.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
get up someone's nose [mainly British, informal]
to irritate someone a great deal
This producer looks as if he's going to get up everybody's nose. He has only been here for a few hours and already he has been babbling about `discipline' to Annie.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
give someone a bloody nose [British]
to defeat someone in a contest or competition in a way that does not cause permanent damage but makes them look foolish or inferior
Most are so fed up with this new tax that they are threatening to give the Government more than a bloody nose in the forthcoming by-election.
to damage the other side in a war or conflict enough to cause it to withdraw, at least for a time
Giving the national army a bloody nose is one thing. Taking on its full might is another.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
keep your nose clean
to behave well and avoid trouble
The best advice I can give is tell you to keep your nose clean.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
keep your nose out of something
to not interfere in something, because it does not concern you
Nancy realized that this was his way of telling her to keep her nose out of his business.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
keep your nose to the grindstone
to concentrate on working hard at your job, and not concern yourself with other things
There is more to life than keeping your nose to the grindstone and saving for a rainy day.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
lead someone by the nose
to control someone completely so that they do whatever you want
The Government has let itself be led by the nose by the timber trade into suppressing the report for the narrow commercial advantage of those involved.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
look down your nose at someone or something
to regard a thing or person as inferior and treat them with scorn or disrespect
The minister and his intellectual friends still look down their noses at Disneyland and the American soap operas such as Santa Barbara.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
a nose for something
a natural talent for finding something
Harry runs his own news agency in the north. He has a well-trained nose for a story.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
not see beyond your nose or not see beyond the end of your nose
to think only about yourself and your immediate needs, rather than about other people or wider and longer-term issues
Time to act your age. You're too busy thinking about you and about everything to do with you that you don't see beyond the end of your nose.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
on the nose
exactly
This is Radio One FM. Precisely on the nose seven sixteen.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
pay through the nose for something [informal]
to pay more for something than you consider fair or reasonable
It looks as though those taking out new insurance policies on their houses, cars, boats and planes will be paying through the nose.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
poke your nose into something or stick your nose into something
to interfere in something that does not concern you
If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me for poking my nose into other people's business.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
put someone's nose out of joint
to offend or upset someone, because they think that they have not been treated with the respect that they deserve
Gillian's sons were resentful of their new step-sisters. Barry had his nose put out of joint by Lucy's aloof sophistication, although she was his junior.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
rub someone's nose in it
to embarrass or upset someone by reminding them of something that they do not want to think about, such as a failure or a mistake that they have made
You obviously delight in the defeat of a fellow performer! And proceed to rub his nose in it, don't you?
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
thumb your nose at someone or something
to behave in a way that shows disrespect or contempt for someone or something
There is a hard-core of young persistent offenders, and too many of them are simply laughing at authority and thumbing their noses at the court.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
turn up your nose at something
to reject something because you think that it is not good enough for you
Even in the United States top-flight university graduates turned up their noses at business jobs and tried instead to get into government service.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
under your nose
if something, especially a bad thing, happens under your nose, it happens in your presence or very near to you, and you do not or cannot do anything to stop it
Then suddenly I knew what had been going on here all along, right under our noses.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
plain as the nose on your face
very obvious or easy to understand
It's plain as the nose on your face that this company is wildly undervalued.
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
it's no skin off my nose [British, informal]
said to mean that you are not worried about something bad that has happened because it only affects or harms other people, or because it is not your responsibility
When I heard she'd got the sack, I thought, it's no skin off my nose. She's not what you'd call a mate, and losing a lousy job like that's no big deal, is it?
Easy Learning Idioms Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers
Collocations:
aquiline nose nose spray nose twitches pierce the nose pointed nose pointy nose prominent nose runny nose sharp nose snub nose straight nose stuffy nose wet nose
Komarov had a long face, an aquiline nose and intense dark brown eyes.
CHAMELEON (2002)
Lyndsey's sharp features, small chin, high cheekbones, did not remotely resemble Emma's aquiline nose and oval face.
HIDING FROM THE LIGHT (2002)
Ed's incredibly distinguished-looking; elegant, a young forty-one, with strong cheekbones and an aquiline nose.
RESCUING ROSE (2002)
Ian had a narrow, sharp-featured face with an aquiline nose, rather hollow cheeks and intense dark eyes.
COME AND BE KILLED
If that doesn't work, your doctor may try you on a nose spray which should ease the problem.
The Sun
A nose spray, antibiotics and amitriptyline haven't helped.
The Sun
An over-the-counter steroid nose spray — like you'd use for hay fever — may do the trick.
The Sun
My doctor prescribed me a nose spray but it hasn't helped.
The Sun
Take a non-sedating antihistamine tablet every day, possibly in conjunction with a nose spray, and wear wraparound sunglasses to protect your eyes.
Times, Sunday Times
My nose twitches at the smell of cooking fish from the harbour restaurants.
Times, Sunday Times
His eyes are closed and once or twice his nose twitches as if within a hair's breadth of that juicy rabbit.
Times, Sunday Times
His nose twitches when ghosts are nearby.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
I also got my nose pierced two years ago.
The Sun
I bleached my hair, got my ears and nose pierced and got noticed.
The Sun
After all, there are people who pierce their noses to stand out.
The Sun
She has the art student look right already with that new nose piercing.
The Sun
The only things she'd come up with — getting her nose pierced and taking up knitting — revealed both a complex character and someone who had already lived an enviably full life.
Times, Sunday Times
She has reddish hair, a pointed nose, sleepy eyes and poor skin.
Times, Sunday Times
They also lower and raise the famous pointed nose.
Times, Sunday Times
She seems serenely of her period, with long, arched neck and pointed nose.
Times, Sunday Times
She has a bald, blistered scalp, a wizened face, long pointed nose, extended chin and elongated claws.
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It was long and narrow, with a pointed nose cone.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
They recognised each other immediately - same pointy nose, lean build.
Times, Sunday Times
He had full lips, a long, pointy nose that might have looked unattractive on someone else, but not on him, and a strong, pert chin.
Times, Sunday Times
Alas, there are some things that fame just can't do for you: he's still a pallid, pigeon-chested, falsetto-voiced newt with a pointy nose.
Times, Sunday Times
He's got a fantastically large forehead and a giant pointy nose, and it's visible as a sculpture from every single angle, it works because it's a 360-degree profile.
Times, Sunday Times
They have a pointy nose with long pale whiskers.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
He has heavy-lidded eyes, a prominent nose, full lips and a small moustache.
Times, Sunday Times
They kept his prominent nose but softened other features, making him much less cold and severe than in traditional portraits.
Times, Sunday Times
She was short and sallow with hairy arms and a prominent nose.
Times, Sunday Times
Some of this polarisation centres on her prominent nose, which she briefly considered altering by surgery early on.
Times, Sunday Times
There are two species that live around our coasts - the grey seal, which has a prominent nose, and the harbour seal, which has a rounder, f latter face.
Times, Sunday Times
It's common to also have a watery eye and a blocked or runny nose in the nostril on the same side of the head.
The Sun
Inflamed eyes and allergic rhinitis (a runny nose) are often associated with asthma or eczema.
Times, Sunday Times
And why doesn't it have a runny nose?
The Sun
These include a runny nose, raised temperature, severe coughing fits and vomiting after coughing.
The Sun
First signs appear roughly nine days after infection and include a temperature, runny nose, swollen eyelids and red eyes.
The Sun
He just kept that long, sharp nose religiously over the ball, accumulating at his own deliberate gait...
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It sported a sharp nose, with a narrow monocoque and bulging side-pods designed to house the radiators with maximum aerodynamic efficiency.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
He was very handsome with a broad forehead, grey eyes, thick eyebrows, long and sharp nose and a very good physique.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
The good characters tend to have round faces with unnaturally large eyes while the villains have sharp noses and beady eyes.
The Sun
It abandons the 700's duckbill nose in favor of a sharper nose.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
His closely cropped hair looked sprayed on; his face, dominated by a snub nose, on high alert.
Times, Sunday Times
Six feet tall, slender yet full-breasted, her face was delicate-featured, with a snub nose.
Times, Sunday Times
The snub nose styling distinguishes it from the long elegant bonnet of the 6/80 re.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Lineman's pliers have a gripping joint at their snub nose and cutting edge in their craw.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Her pale blue eyes were set wide above high cheekbones, a neat straight nose and wide but thin lips.
Times, Sunday Times
The form cast onto the mountain above them looked directly to the left, with the heavy eyebrows, straight nose and sharp chin perfectly defined.
Times, Sunday Times
He has a curving mouth, straight nose, and etched jaw line.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
You can see he's got his dad's fine straight nose.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
She has sleek curls, hazel eyes, a straight nose and prunes and prisms mouth.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Over the years doctors prescribed foot arches for my feet, pills for headaches, a diet for excessive weight and breathing exercises for a stuffy nose.
Times, Sunday Times
Inhaling steam from a bowl full of hot water can help to unblock a stuffy nose.
Times, Sunday Times
So curing your problem means clearing that stuffy nose.
The Sun
Worse, he had awakened with a stuffy nose.
Houston Chronicle
The most common side effects for losartan are upper respiratory infections or stuffy nose, dizziness, and back pain.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
Shiny coat, wet nose and friendly bark essential.
Times, Sunday Times
Hopefully with a wet nose, snuffling in the undergrowth for a trophy.
Times, Sunday Times
Into a pretend cave the weird little family goes and declares it can see 'two big furry ears, two big goggly eyes and one big wet nose'.
Times, Sunday Times
No matter their soft brown coats and darling wet noses.
Times, Sunday Times
Translations:
Chinese: 鼻, 缓慢行驶
Japanese: 鼻, ゆっくり注意深く前進する
- pecs
- pectin
- pectoral
- peculiar
- peculiar characteristic
- peculiar circumstances
- peculiar combination
- peculiar fascination
- peculiar feature
- peculiar habit
- peculiarity
- peculiar kind
- peculiarly
- peculiar mix of
- pecuniary
- pedagogic
- pedagogical
- pedagogue
- pedagogy
- pedal
- pedal away
- pedal bicycle
- pedal bin
- pedal crank
- pedant