| 释义 |
▪ I. nose, n.|nəʊz|
Forms: 1–2 nosu, 3–4 nos, 5–6 noos, 5 noose, noys(e, 6 noise, nois, noss, 3– nose.
[OE. nosu fem. = OFris. nosi, nose, nosa, nos, MDu. nose, nuese, neuse (Du. neus), MLG. nose, nose; MSw., Sw., and Norw. nos (nōs) snout, muzzle. The relationship to OE. nasu nase and to nese is not clear.]
I.
1. a. That part (usually more or less prominent) of the head or face in humans and animals which lies above the mouth and contains the nostrils. Also, the corresponding part, or some similar formation, in lower forms of animal life.
In Saxon Leechd. I. 88 the plural appears to be used in the sense of ‘nostrils’.
c897K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xi. 64 Ᵹif he..to micle nosu hæfde, oððe to lytle. c1000ælfric Hom. I. 568 Ic ᵹeslea ænne wriðan on his nosu, & ænne bridel on his weleras. a1122O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1014, Cnut..let þær up þa gislas..& cearf of heora handa & heora nosa. c1220Bestiary 393 Te gandre & te gos, bi ðe necke & bi ðe nos, [the fox] haleð is to hire hole. c1290Beket 2177 S. Eng. Leg. I. 169 A smal rewe þere was of blode þat ouer is nose drouȝ. c1340Nominale (Skeat) 152 Man snyfterith and nose snyt. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xiii. (Bodl. MS.), Þe nose is in þe myddel of þe foremest partye of þe hed. 1422tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 228 Tho that haue grete Noosys lyghtely bene talentid to couetise. c1470Henry Wallace ix. 1928 His lyppys round, his noys was squar and tret. 1561Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 15 Fyll a fylberts shell full of it, and draw it so in through the nose. 1590Lodge Rosalind (Hunt. Cl.) 38 His nose on the sodaine bled, which made him coniecture it was some friend of his. 1600Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. i. 39 The big round teares Cours'd one another downe his [the stag's] innocent nose. 1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 77 Great is the ornament that the Face receiveth by the Nose. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 52 All the Figures that were carved upon her for ornament, had the noses cut off. 1760Sterne Tr. Shandy iii. xxxii, Pressing up the ridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. 1798Ferriar Illustr. Sterne iv. 103 The nose furnishes the principal expression of derision in the countenance. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxxiv. III. 477 To enable you to distinguish the nose of insects..it is the terminal middle part that sometimes overhangs the upper lip. 1855Tennyson Maud ii. 10 The least little delicate aquiline curve in a sensitive nose. 1872Ruskin Eagle's Nest §182 Some animals have to dig with their noses.
†b. Applied to an elephant's trunk. Obs. rare.
1601Holland Pliny I. 196 It will with the nose or trunke..turn aside whatsoeuer beast commeth in his way. 1727A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xli. 110 He put in his Trunk at the Window, and blew his Nose on the Taylor with such a Force and Quantity of Water, that the poor Taylor and his Life-guard were blown off the Table.
c. parson's nose, the rump of a fowl (see parson n. 6); so recorder's nose.
1825C. Westmacott Eng. Spy II. 112 Shall I send you the recorder's nose?
d. That part of a pair of spectacles or eye-glasses which crosses the nose; the bridge.
1895Funk's Stand. Dict.
e. In Horse-racing: the nose of a horse used as an indication of the distance between two finishing horses. Phr. to bet (etc.) on the nose: to back a horse to win (as opposed to betting for a place, or betting each way).
1908L. Mitchell New York Idea i. 11 Flying Cloud slipped by the pair and won on the post by a nose in one forty nine! 1951Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xvi. 13 Bet on the nose. 1955Amer. Speech XXX. 26 Laymen..will say that a horse won by a neck, head, or nose to describe any race which was extremely close. In this country a bet on a horse to win..is said to be on the nose. 1963‘J. Prescot’ Case for Hearing iv. 71 Every afternoon that lad of mine is in the betting shop slapping as much as fifty quid a time on the nose. 1973Times 12 Apr. 12/6 Ladbroke..assured me that I could lay {pstlg}30,000 on the nose if I wished.
2. a. The organ of smell.
a1400–50Alexander 4380 Quare-of þe breth as of bawme blawis in oure noose. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 184 Was dulcet & swete to y⊇ mouth..& sauoured wele to the nose. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 569 Your nose smels no, in this most tender smelling Knight. 1601― All's Well v. ii. 11 Par. Nay you neede not to stop your nose sir... Clo. Indeed sir, if your Metaphor stinke, I will stop my nose. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 67 Nor rost red Crabs t' offend the niceness of their Nose. 1735Somerville Chase i. 324 His snuffling Nose, his active Tail Attest his Joy. 1784Cowper Task ii. 259 That no rude savour maritime invade The nose of nice nobility!
fig.1589Marprel. Epit. B ij, I am sure their noses can abide no iest. 1591Lodge (title-p.), Catharos, A Nettle for Nice Noses. 1792Boswell Johnson an. 1784, 27 June, He entered upon a..discussion of the difference between intuition and sagacity;..one he observed was the eye of the mind, the other the nose of the mind.
b. The sense of smell; a (good, bad, etc.) faculty of smell or power of tracking by scent.
c1350Will. Palerne 92 Wiȝtly þe werwolf þan went bi nose euene to þe herdes house. 1573Baret Alv. s.v. Smell, He hath a very good nose: or he can smell very quickly. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Nez, A dog of a deepe nose, or good sent. 1711E. Ward Vulgus Brit. ii. 131 All tho' the Puppies have no Noses They'l with them Hunt thro' Woods and Closes. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. v. §1 You shall often see among the dogs a loud babbler, with a bad nose, lead the unskilful part of the pack. 1856‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports 28/1 The hunting power of the spaniel, its delicacy of nose [etc.]. 1897Outing XXIX. 543/2 He had a wonderful nose and as much bird-sense as I have ever known one dog's head to contain.
fig.1549Latimer 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 142 He was a gentilman of a longe nose... Thys Shyryffe was a couetuouse man. 1875W. Hyde in C. F. Wingate Views & Interviews on Journalism 196 The ‘nose for news’, by which is meant unwearying alertness and insatiable hunger for something ‘ahead of the other papers’. 1876E. Jenkins Blot on Queen's Hd. 10 Keen noses for their own interest. 1934C. Lambert Music Ho! ii. 86 He had an astounding ‘nose’ for the growth of any particular movement of taste or snobbism. 1942E. Waugh Put out More Flags ii. 118 One does not work in the East without acquiring a nose for a deal. 1960Times 20 June 4/1 The crowds who always have a nose for personality. 1972‘J. Cassells’ Profit for Picaroon v. 36 He was a damned good reporter..and he had a nose for a story.
c. Smell, odour, perfume; esp. of wines.
1894Blackmore Perlycross 61 The room was like a barn after a bad cold harvest, with a musty nose to it. 1899Haggard Farm. Year 8 July 265 Otherwise it [the hay] would lack ‘nose’ and flavour. 1936F. C. Lloyd Art & Technique Wine xv. 146 The bouquet, or ‘nose’ to use a more technical word, is very important and serves to reveal the characteristics of wines to a connoisseur. 1952A. Lichine Wines of France x. 107 Its tremendous nose—bouquet is too delicate a word—makes it [sc. Chambertin] a veritable Cyrano. 1971Guardian 12 Nov. 9/2 The dry white of Beaucaire..has an aromatic ‘nose’ and plenty of body.
d. on the nose (Austral.): offensive, annoying; smelly.
1941Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 49 Nose, on the: (said of things) disliked, offensive. 1945T. Inglis Moore We're going Through 18 Withdraw! That's on the nose! 1946K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) vi. 86 ‘Christ! Alec,’ he complained. ‘This bait's a bit on the nose, ain't it?’ He spat over the side as the reek of fish-heads a week old..caught his stomach. 1953D. Cusack Southern Steel 138 The beer's on the nose and the plonk'd make a willy-wagtail fight an emu. 1974Australian 12 Dec. 13 She renounced her Australian citizenship and swore everlasting loyalty to the Stars and Stripes. A bit on the nose, we think.
3. As an organ by which speech-sounds may be produced or affected. Chiefly in phrases in or through the nose.
1530Palsgr. 2 They sounde hym..a lyttell in the noose. 1588Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 16 Sing a note,..sometime through [the] nose. 1604― Oth. iii. i. 4 Haue your Instruments bin in Naples, that they speake i' th' Nose thus? 1648Visitation Oxford 4 Langley (the new made Yeoman Bedell of Divinity) with Paper, Spectacles, and Nose proclaimed a Convocation. 1741A. Monro Anat. Nerves (ed. 3) 86 People labouring under a Coryza, or stopping of the Nose from any other Cause,..are by the Vulgar..said to speak through their Nose. 1850Dickens Dav. Copp. xxii, He..pays as he speaks..—through the nose. 1888[see nasally].
4. a nose of wax, a thing easily turned or moulded in any way desired; a person easily influenced, one of a weak character.
Very common c 1580–1700, esp. in allusions to wresting the Scriptures.
1532Tindale Expos. Matt. vi. 23 If the Scripture be contrary, then make it a nose of wax and wrest it this way and that way till it agree. 1589Cooper Admon. (Arb.) 58 Affirming..that the Scriptures are darke.., because they may bee wrested euery way, like a nose of waxe, or like a leaden Rule. 1657Burton's Diary (1828) II. 162 This Bill is not worth a second reading. It is a nose of wax. 1686A. Horneck Crucif. Jesus ix. 167 Oral Tradition, that nose of wax, which you may turn and set, which way you list. 1748Lond. Mag. 259 Are the laws for preventing the growth of popery only a nose of wax? 1801Huntington God Guard. of Poor 139 He turned his text into a nose-of-wax, in order to make it fit my face. 1821Galt Annals Parish xii, Her ladyship..said that I was a nose-of-wax. 1880Disraeli Endym. III. xxx. 300 He was a nose of wax with this woman.
5. slang. A spy or informer; one who supplies information to the police. (See also quot. 1812.)
1789G. Parker Life's Painter xv. 151 Nose.—Snitch. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Nose, a thief who becomes an evidence against his accomplices;..also a spy or informer of any description. 1830Boston Gaz. 26 Oct. 1 The first issue of forged notes, it is stated by a nose (an informer), amounted to 500. 1888Pall Mall G. 11 Oct. 88 The co⁓operation of the..policeman with female ‘pals’ and ‘noses’. 1928E. Wallace Gunner xviii. 145 He was just a little thief and a nose. 1954[see grass n.1 12]. 1961John o' London's 30 Nov. 610/3 Other words used for him [sc. an informer] include grass, nose, [etc.]. 1974R. Edwards Dixon of Dock Green 7 He knew that CID men are allowed to drink on duty because much of their time is spent with ‘noses’ or informants.
II. In phrases more or less figurative.
6. a. In various colloquial or allusive expressions.
to make a long nose (see long a.1 1 c). to have, or take, pepper in the nose (see pepper n. 4 b).
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 2090 Maximian was suþþe aslawe maugre is nose. 13..K. Alis. 7812 (MS. Laud 622), Þe kyng hym dude quyk dispose, Wiþ harme to his owen nose. 1338R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 95 A Breton (daþet his nose) for Roberd þider sent. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. iv. 164 But he be knowe for a koke-wolde kut of my nose. 1526Skelton Magnyf. 835 Pryde hath plucked thé by the nose. 1577F. de Lisle's Legendarie F vij b, If she [the Queen-mother] had not supported them, their noses had then kissed the ground. 1589Pasquil's Ret. B ij b, They prooue so ridiculous.., that I am ready to stand on my nose. 1605Tryall Chev. i. iii, Tary, sir, tary, we want the length of your nose. 1632Strafford in Browning & Foster Life (1892) App. ii. 301 The Commission of the Peace, (the instrument of terroure by which he pulled them on along with him by the noses). 1687T. Brown in Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Wks. 1705 II. 126 He durst hardly show his Nose over his hatch. 1734Pope Ess. Man iv. 224 Onward still he goes, Yet ne'er looks forward farther than his nose. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. ii. i, Seeing clearly to the length of its own nose, it is not paralysed. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. vi, You've always got your nose in the manger. 1917R. Fry Let. 23 Nov. (1972) II. 420 Millions of people..catch me on the telephone the moment I just put my nose inside the Omega. 1922Joyce Ulysses 322 In Shanagolden where he daren't show his nose. 1935J. Buchan House of Four Winds i. 42, I should like to put my nose inside Evallonia just to say I'd been there. 1947M. Lowry Under Volcano i. 25 Geoffrey's ‘nose was always in a book’. 1963Nose wide open [see fox n. 2 c]. 1968M. Jones Survivor ii. 33 It was considered anti-social to ‘have your nose stuck in a book’. 1970C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 85 ‘Nose wide open’ is to be in love.
Comb.1882Floyer Unexpl. Baluchistan 245 There was a general nose-in-the-air, defiant kind of aspect.
b. (in) spite of one's nose, notwithstanding one's opposition or objection. Also in ME. maugre his nose (see prec., quot. 1297). ? Obs.
1570Satir. Poems Reform. x. 183 Than come ȝour king..And reft him from hir in spyte of his nois. 1579Fulke Heskins' Parl. 286 In spite of his nose, he must confesse al this speach to be figuratiue. 1659Hammond On Ps. cxxxviii. 7 Our English usual expression, in spite of the nose of mine enemies. 1664Cotton Scarron. Wks. (1725) 110 He would go, spite of all their Noses. 1675― Burlesque upon B. ibid. 182 Spight of your Nose, and will ye, nill ye, I will go home again, that will I.
c. In comparisons denoting that something is perfectly plain or obvious. Also ironically.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. ii. i. 142 Oh Iest vnseene: inscrutible: inuisible, As a nose on a mans face, or a Wethercocke on a steeple. 1655H. More Second Lash 200 As plain as the nose on a mans face. 1695Congreve Love for L. iv. viii, 'Tis as plain as the nose in one's face. 1773Graves Spir. Quix. v. xix, The Gentleman..has made it as plain as the nose in one's face, if one did but understand him. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 157 It's as plain as the nose on your face for to see't. 1873Hardy Pair of Blue Eyes iii, It is as plain as the nose in your face that there's your origin.
d. to count, or tell, noses, denoting the counting of persons, esp. those on one side or party.
1657Leveller in Harl. Misc. (1745) IV. 515 The Leveller's Designs, to make all Men's Estates to be equal, and to divide the Land by telling Noses. 1691New Disc. Old Intreague xxxiv, Tells how in Common Hall he counted Noses. 1711Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) I. 148 Some modern zealots appear to have no better knowledg of truth, nor better manner of judging it, than by counting noses. a1734North Examen iii. vii. §29 (1740) 523 As if there had been none better than Number, or telling Noses.
7. In prepositional phrases, chiefly denoting closeness or proximity to a person or thing.
a. at one's (very) nose. (Still colloq. or dial.)
1526St. Papers Hen. VIII, VI. 543 That citie stondith in a very strong place hard at his [the Pope's] nose. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 695 Because the war was ouert at his nose, with the French kyng. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 45 The taking of so important a place; just at the nose of so strong an Army. 1704N. N. tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. II. To Rdr., They make 'em believe, Rewards and Honours are just at their very Noses.
b. under one's (very) nose.
Freq. implying that an action is done in defiance of a person, or without his perceiving it.
a1548Hall Chron., K. Hen. V 38 Why doth your grace..covet a countrey farre from your sight, before a realme under your nose? 1577Harrison England ii. i. (1877) i. 30 In some places where the kings and princes dwelled not under his [the Pope's] nose. 1607Norden Surv. Dial. i. 7 You are but a meane obseruer of the course..of things passing dayly under your nose. 1670Cotton Espernon i. iv. 153 They..suffer'd the Duke..to continue his work under their noses. 1707Freind Peterborow's Cond. Spain 240 His Lordship procur'd and bought near 800 Horses, under the Enemies nose. 1775Sheridan Duenna iii. vi, They continue to sin under my very nose. 1856–7Geo. Eliot Scenes Clerical Life ii. i, A parson, always under your nose on your own estate.
c. † by one's nose, very close to one. † to one's nose, before one's face. † on the nose of, immediately before, on the eve of. on the nose (U.S.): accurately, precisely, to the heart of the situation; accurate, precise (esp. of time). nose to nose, closely face to face, directly opposite.
1549Latimer 5th Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 142 She had hir landes by the Shiriffes nose. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. ii. i. 94 What, hast not thou full often strucke a Doe, And borne her cleanly by the Keepers nose? 1607― Cor. iv. vi. 83 To see your Wiues dishonour'd to your Noses. 1681Sir J. Lauder Scot. Affairs (Bann. Cl.) 304 That they, on the nose of a Parliament, came so near the deciding on dubious elections. 1732Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 382 You sit down quite close as ever you can, nose to nose. 1781Cowper Conv. 270 In contact inconvenient, nose to nose. 1855Thackeray Newcomes II. 283 The two parties would often meet nose to nose in the same street. 1937Printers' Ink Monthly May 40/1 On the button, a program ending exactly on time... On the nose, see ‘On the button’. 1943New Yorker 30 Oct. 21/1 I'll meet you there happest twelve, but on the nose. 1944W. C. Greet World Words p. v, This book has been prepared in great haste. To be readily understood, and, in radio parlance, to be on the nose, were its prime requirements. 1958B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) ii. 27 ‘You were supposed to be out weeks ago,’ they told one girl. But I got out right on the nose at the end of four months. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 240 Malcolm Cowley was right on the nose when he wrote that The Deer Park was a far more difficult book to write than The Naked and the Dead. 1962P. Gregory Like Tigress at Bay i. 14 ‘That's it.’ he said. ‘You've hit it right on the nose.’ 1972R. H. Copperud Dict. Contemp. & Colloq. Usage (Eng.-Lang. Inst. Amer.) 21/1 On the nose, right on target; exactly; accurately; on the button. 1974Hawkey & Bingham Wild Card xxii. 176 The cerebroid was properly docked in the flight couch. ‘Right on the nose,’ Stillman said.
d. before one's nose, right in front of one.
c1600Distr. Emperor v. iv, What a lardge passage..Theise prynces make to come unto the way Which lyes before their nosses! 1883Stevenson Treas. Isl. xiii, I ran straight before my nose, till I could run no longer.
8. In phrases with verbs, implying something done to, or with, one's own nose:
a. to follow one's nose, to go straight forward; fig. to be guided by instinct.
1591Greene Art Conny catch. Wks. (Grosart) X. 35 Who so hath not some sinister way to help himselfe, but foloweth his nose alwaies straight forward. 1605Shakes. Lear ii. iv. 70 All that follow their noses are led by their eyes, but blinde men. 1664Cotton Scarron. 60 There lies your way, follow your Nose. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. ii. (1724) 79 The main Maxim of his [Epicurus's] Philosophy was to trust to his Senses, and follow his Nose. 1742Fielding J. Andrews ii. ii, Adams asked him if he could direct him to an alehouse. The fellow..bade him follow his nose. 1822Byron Juan viii. xxxii, Juan, following honour and his nose. [1860Ld. Lytton Lucile ii. i. §1. 40 To pay through his nose just for following it.]
b. to poke, put, or thrust, one's nose, to poke or pry into something, esp. a matter which does not properly concern one. Conversely to keep one's nose clean, to behave properly, keep out of trouble (see also quot. 1909).
1611Cotgr. s.v. Nez, Mettre le nez par tout, to thrust his nose into euery corner. 1648Hexham, Besnoffelen, to See Prie, or Have his nose in every thing. 1755Johnson s.v., To thrust one's Nose into the affairs of others, to be meddling with other people's matters; to be a busy body. 1809W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 86 In those days nobody..thrust his nose into other people's affairs. 1850Thackeray Pendennis II. xxxvi. 347 Beck! leave the room. What do you want poking your nose in here? 1856Reade Never too Late xv, If he hadn't been a fool and put his nose into my business. 1883M. Pattison Mem. (1885) 190 A flourishing Evangelical, who poked his nose into everything. 1887Lantern (New Orleans) 13 Oct. 5/3 There's worse fellows than you looking for it, and if you only keep your nose clean, we'll let you have it. 1909J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 162/1 Keep your nose clean (Army), avoid drink. 1934J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra ii. 54, I give you the sawbuck because you've just got out of the can. Keep your nose clean. 1945P. Cheyney I'll say she Does! i. 12 You're a guy who has gotta reputation for keepin' his nose clean, but..you're in bad with the big boy. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 350 You boys on Channel Five want to keep your nose clean, now don't you? 1960C. MacInnes Mr. Love & Justice 15 What we're offering you is—well, influence... How you manage there, provided you keep your nose clean, is really up to you. 1970N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon i. 23 Do what people tell you, keep your nose clean and work out your academic progress. 1974A. Ross Bradford Business 64 Denis Fitzgerald..a known associate of villains, but managed to keep his own nose clean.
c. to turn up one's nose, to show disdain. Also, to look down one's nose.
1818Byron Juan i. clix, Antonia.., turning up her nose, with looks abused Her master. 1845Ford Handbk. Spain i. 28 The better classes turn up their noses at these odoriferous delicacies of the peasantry. 1879B. Taylor Germ. Lit. 7 What learning there was in those days..turned up its nose at the strains of the native minstrels. 1921Galsworthy To Let iii. xi. 306 That chap Jolyon's water-colours were on view there. He went in to look down his nose at them—it might give him some faint satisfaction. 1932Sun (Baltimore) 24 Oct. 8/1 It is getting more difficult for a lawyer to look down his nose at the courtroom, with consequent impairment of the prestige of the courts. 1956A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Att. i. iv. 102 When you were all little babies, I used to sing and dance all day. The English neighbours would say ‘That young Mrs Middleton's quite mad’, and look down their noses—so! 1973Times 24 Apr. 5/4 The portrait of the famous widow, who invented the topsy-turvy logic of remuage and dégorgement..looks down her nose down the stairs at her successors in the craft.
d. † to hold up one's nose, to be proud or haughty. † to hang a nose, to have an inclination or hankering. † to fuddle one's nose (see fuddle v. 2 b). to cut off one's nose, etc., to do something to one's own hurt or loss.
1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 228/1 Let women holde vppe their noses no more: for all their presumption is sufficiently beaten downe here. 1649G. Daniel Trinarch. Hen. V cxxv, Chuse his Bread, And hang a Nose to Leekes, Quaile-Surfetted. 1655tr. Sorel's Com. Hist. Francion viii. 19 If there be in my kitchin any thing better than another..this Gallant wil hang a nose after it. 1796Grose's Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3) s.v., He cut off his nose to be revenged of his face. Said of one who, to be revenged on his neighbour, has materially injured himself. 1867Trollope Chron. Barset xxiv, I make it a rule never to cut the nose off my own face.
e. to hold one's nose: to compress the nostrils between the fingers in order to avoid perceiving a (bad) smell. Also fig.
a1592Greene Jas. IV (1905) II. i. ii. 102 A stiffe docket,—hold your nose, master. 1830Coleridge Table-T. 8 July (1884) 102 Son of Jacob! Thou stinkest foully. See the man in the moon! he is holding his nose at thee at that distance. 1900Fortn. Rev. Jan. 74 Surely there are times when he is forced to hold his nose and shut his eyes to shut out the abominable visions he conjures up for us. 1973Times 18 Sept. 18/2 Then abolish all alternatives to this public system of education, at which they hold their noses.
f. to thumb one's nose: to put one's thumb to one's nose and extend the fingers as a gesture of derision: to ‘cock a snook’. Also fig. orig. U.S.
1903R. Dunn Diary 25 July (1907) ix. 109 He thumbed his nose at us. 1929A. C. & C. Edington Studio Murder Myst. iv. 37 Underlings in the studio thumbed their noses at his back. 1947W. Motley Knock on any Door 119 Behind Ma's back Ang thumbed her nose at him and stuck out her tongue. 1973J. Wainwright High-Class Kill 163 They are already thumbing their snotty, aristocratic noses at us.
g. to get it up one's nose: in P. G. Wodehouse (a) to become angry; (b) to become infatuated.
1925Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves! iii. 67 This lad seems to have chucked all the principles of a well-spent boyhood. He has got it up his nose! 1934― Right ho, Jeeves xvii. 220 So thoroughly had Gussie got it up his nose by now that it seemed to me that had he sighted me he might have become personal about even an old school friend. 1961― Service with Smile (1962) ix. 135, I have seldom seen a man who has got it so thoroughly up his nose. 1971― Much Obliged, Jeeves iii. 20 He had spoken of her..with devotion in every syllable. Plainly he had got it up his nose and didn't object to being bossed. 1973― Bachelors Anonymous viii. 92 ‘See what I mean?.. Got it right up his nose,’ said Mr. Llewellyn. ‘I have seldom seen a case where the symptoms were more clearly marked,’ said Mr. Trout. ‘He is taking her to dinner.’
h. to get up someone's nose: (see quot. 1951).
1951Partridge Dict. Slang 1120/2 Nose, get up one's, to upset, annoy, irritate, render ‘touchy’. 1975Daily Mail 6 Aug. 7/1 The implication that granny was a little winning knockout with a system that couldn't be bettered..does, I'm afraid, get rather up my nose. 1975Times Lit. Suppl. 26 Sept. 1102/2 The police pulled them [sc. homeless alcoholics] in whenever they got up the public's nose too much.
i. to get one's nose down (to): to work arduously and concentratedly (at). Cf. grindstone 2 b.
1962Times 31 May 4/1 Getting their noses really down to business. 1966Wodehouse Plum Pie i. 11 One would certainly have expected him by this time to have raised the price of a marriage licence and had the Bishop and assistant clergy getting their noses down to it.
9. In phrases with verbs, implying something done to another person.
†a. to cast in, or lay to, one's nose, to reproach or upbraid one with. Obs. (Cf. cast v. 65.)
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 10 He wyll obiecte it to the, and cast it in thy nose. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 256/1 Let euery one of us..take such heede to him selfe, that this reproch bee not laide to our noses. a1600Flodden F. (1664) 75 Let it never be laid unto our nose, That Scotchmen made us turn our back.
b. to put (or † thrust) one's nose out of joint, etc., to displace or supplant one; to spoil one's plans; to throw out or disconcert in some way.
1581Rich Farew. Milit. Profess. K iv, It could bee no other then his owne manne, that had thrust his nose so farre out of ioynte. 1598R. Bernard tr. Terence, Eunuch i. ii, Fearing now lest this wench..should put your nose out of joynt. 1662Pepys Diary 31 May, The King is pleased enough with her: which, I fear, will put Madam Castlemaine's nose out of joynt. 1754Goodall Exam. Lett. Mary Q. of Scots 9 This method of proceeding..thrust their noses quite out of joint. 1781J. Adams in Fam. Lett. (1876) 403 Burgoyne don't seem to be affronted that his [= Cornwallis's] nose is out of joint. 1840Mrs. Trollope Widow Married xi, She won't put my nose out, any how. 1860Thackeray Lovel vi, My dear, I guess your ladyship's nose is out of joint.
c. to bite or snap one's nose off, to answer snappishly.
Cf. Robinson tr. More's Utopia (Arb.) 25, and Shakes. Much Ado v. i. 115.
1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe 47 Shee was a shrewish snappish bawd, that wold bite off a mans nose with an answere. 1709S. Centlivre Busie Body i. i, I..ask'd him if he was at leisure for his Chocolate,..but he snap'd my Nose off; no, I shall be busy here these two Hours.
d. to make a bridge of one's nose (see quots.).
a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v., You make a Bridge of his Nose, when you pass your next Neighbor in Drinking, or one is preferr'd over another's Head. 1731–8Swift Pol. Conversat. ii. Wks. 1751 XII. 242 Pray, my Lord, don't make a Bridge of my Nose. 1768Ray's Prov. 180 To make a bridge of one's nose, i.e. To intercept one's trencher, cup, or the like; or to offer or pretend to do kindnesses to one, and then pass him by, and do it to another; to lay hold upon and serve himself of that which was intended for another. 1828in Craven Dial. s.v.
e. † to bite by the nose, to treat with contempt. † to bore one's nose, to cheat, swindle. † to joint one's nose of, to trick one out of. † to play with one's nose, to make game of one. to make one's nose swell, to make one jealous or envious. to rub (occas. push) one's nose in it: to remind (someone) humiliatingly of his error; to make (someone) acutely aware of (a fault, etc.).
See also grindstone 2 b, and lead v.1 4 c.
1584B. R. tr. Herodotus, Euterpe (1888) 163 Apyres was perswaded that neither god nor the diuell coulde haue ioynted his nose of the Empyre. 1590Greene Arcadia (1616) 29 Pesana hearing how pleasantly Melicertus plaide with her nose, thought to giue him a great bone to gnawe vpon. 1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 109 Has he affections in him, That thus can make him bite the Law by th' nose? 1611Cotgr., Nasarder, to fillip;..also, to frumpe, or breake a ieast on; play with the nose of. 1625Fletcher & Shirley Nt. Walker ii. iii, I'll take order she shall ne'er recover To bore my nose. 1642Howell For. Trav. (Arb.) 44, I have known divers Dutch Gentlemen grosly guld by this cheat, and som English bor'd also through the nose this way. 1743in Howell St. Trials (1813) XVII. 1187 He heard lord Altham say,..my wife has got a son, which will make my brother's nose swell. 1963P. M. Hubbard Flush as May xiii. 121 I'm sorry. I've said I'm sorry... Don't rub my nose in it. 1967‘M. Hunter’ Cambridgeshire Disaster vii. 47 It makes a change, I suppose,..having your nose rubbed in it. 1971D. Lees Rainbow Conspiracy i. 18 Using me on a hard news story would be pushing their noses in it—treating them like a branch office with printing facilities. 1972Times Lit. Suppl. 3 Mar. 234/1 Discontinuity will not do on its own for a resolute dualist and Bataille wants to rub our noses in the idea of the continuous.
10. a. In allusions to the act of wiping the nose.
1437Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 176 Thus they wold, if we will beleve, Wypen our nose with our owne sleve. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 80, I may..make you wype your nose vpon your sleeue. 1575Gamm. Gurton v. i, She will..byd you seeke your remedy, and so go wype your nose. 1611Cotgr. s.v. Nez, They wipe his nose with his owne sleeue, his taile with his owne shirt; they allow him meat, or meanes, out of his owne money. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 160 It was used in that good old world, when men wiped their nose on their sleeve (as the French man sayes).
†b. to wipe one's nose of, to deprive, defraud, or cheat one of (anything). Obs.
1598R. Bernard tr. Terence, Eunuch i. i, The very destruction of our substance: who wipes our noses of all that we should have. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 362 Many thinke his nose will be wiped of it. 1667Pepys Diary 17 July, That..the King [might] own a marriage before his contract..with the Queene, and so wipe their noses of the Crown. 1721Cibber Rival Fools Wks. ii. 1754 I. 29, I durst lay my Life thou wipest this foolish Knight's Nose of his Mistress at last.
11. to pay through the nose, to pay excessively; to be charged exorbitantly.
1672Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 270 Made them pay for it most unconscionably and through the Nose. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew. 1782F. Burney Cecilia x. vi, She knows nothing of business, and is made to pay for every thing through the nose. 1809Malkin Gil Blas i. ii. ⁋10 But paying through the nose was not the worst of it. 1860[see 8 a]. 1893Baring-Gould Cheap Jack Zita I. 136 Something for which the public had that day paid, and paid through the nose.
III. In transferred uses.
12.
†a. A socket on a candlestick, into which the lower end of the candle is inserted. Obs.
1431Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1904) 27 A kandelstyk of laton with foure nosis. 1534More Comf. agst. Trib. ii. Wks. 1172/1 The snuffe of a candle that burneth wt in the candlestickes nose. Ibid., A flame halfe an ynch aboue the nose. 1577tr. Bullinger's Decades iii. v. (1592) 347 Christ is the shanke or shaft of the candlesticke, vpon which shanke many snuffers or noses do sticke, which holde the light vp to the Church.
b. The open end of a pipe or tube; the muzzle of a gun, the nozzle of a pair of bellows, etc.
1598Barret Theor. Warres iii. i. 34 Holding the nose of his peece somwhat vpward. 1625B. Jonson Staple of N. ii. iv, A wretched rascall, that will binde about The nose of his bellowes, lest the wind get out When hee's abroad. 1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 231 The Thermometer hanging over the Nose of the Ground-pipe, by which to govern the Heat. 1690Lond. Gaz. No. 2609/4 A streight Key with a Steel Nose. 1730Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. II. xvii. §21 Take a Syringe;..put the End or Nose of it in Water. 1757A. Cooper Distiller i. xxi. (1760) 85 A large glass..placed under the Nose of the Worm. 1844Regul. & Ordin. Army 97 A plug of wood is then to be put into the nose of the Barrel. 1890W. J. Gordon Foundry 143 The gatherer dips his pipe or tube inside this ring, and with a twirl collects on the end, or ‘nose’, a pear-shaped lump.
c. The beak or rostrum of an alembic, retort, or still.
1651French Distill. v. 146 Take a Caldron with a great and high cover having a beake or nose. 1678R. Russell tr. Geber ii. i. x. 107 An Alembeck with a wide nose or beak. 1758Reid tr. Macquer's Chym. I. 396 Let the nose of the retort enter about half an inch into the water.
d. The neck of a globe of glass when detached from the blow-pipe.
1844Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. VII. 35/2 The nose of the glass is heated in a furnace constructed at one side, which is called the nose-hole. 1880Spons' Encycl. Manuf. I. 1064 The end of the piece which was next the now detached pipe, is called the nose.
e. = nose-hole 2.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 581 The outside is built of common brick,..and the mouth or nose of Stourbridge fire-clay.
f. = nose-pipe 2.
1874Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 306 The throat had to be kept dark, the ‘noses’ also dark, and about 6 inches in length.
13. The prow, bow, or stem of a ship or boat. Hence, the corresponding part of an aeroplane, motor vehicle, torpedo, surfboard, etc.
1538Elyot, Coronis.., the nose of a shippe. 1569T. Stocker tr. Diod. Sic. iii. viii. 114 He..embarqued..great store of Shot and Engines.., planting them in the Noses of his Gallies. 1583― Civ. Warres Lowe C. iii. 112 b, The nose of one of them so touched vpon the shore of the Ryuer, as that she was not able well to turne her selfe about. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage (1864) 53 One of the Gallies lost her Nose with a shot. 1749Naval Chron. III. 206 The Ship rode with a whole cable before her nose. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxii. (1856) 277 The brig remains as she was—her nose burrowing in the snow. 1889J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat xviii, The nose of our boat had got fixed under the woodwork of the lock. 1899Royal Mag. Jan. 251/1 In the ‘nose’ of the torpedo. 1899H. G. Wells When Sleeper Wakes xxiv. 320 The nose of the machine jerked upward steeply. 1903Science Siftings 7 Nov. 68/1 When the operator wishes to descend he pulls on a line which lowers the nose of the kite. 1906Strand Mag. May 516/2 In such cases they put the nose of the machine to the opposite side. 1914War Illustr. I. 406 A British Army biplane that collapsed and fell with its nose in the earth. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 13 June 33 Always face the nose of the bomb. When I say ‘nose’ I mean the end which is away from the explosive charge. 1962S. Carpenter in Into Orbit 57 The engineers designed the capsule so that the blunt-nose would come down first. 1962T. Masters Surfing made Easy 64 Nose, the front of the surfboard. 1968W. Warwick Surfriding in N.Z. 3/2 The nose was rounded with a slight uplift or rocker. 1971M. Tak Truck Talk 110 Nose, the foremost part of a trailer.
14. a. A prominent or projecting part; the point or extremity of anything.
In technical use in a number of special applications.
1592Lyly Gallathea i. iv, The Lode-stone that alwaies holdeth his nose to the North. 1676Moxon Print Lett. 48 The Nose of Small Letters project also 3 parts. 1688Holme Armoury iii. 239/2 Their Shooes do turn up at the Nose, after the manner of a hook. Ibid. 289/1 The Nose is either ends of the Shuttle, which are ever tipt with Iron. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. Q j, Bringing up the Earth upon the Nose or end of his Spade. 1829Sporting Mag. XXIII. 388 What we call a wheel-iron, placed, as usual, on the nose of an axle-tree. 1871L. Stephen Playgr. Eur. (1894) v. 118 Blue crevasses..were drawn across the protruding nose of ice.
b. A projecting part of a shell; also spec. of tortoise-shell (see quot. 1858).
1681Grew Musæum i. vi. i. 128 It is not properly the Nose or Beak of the Snail, but of its shell. 1705Phil. Trans. XXIV. 1953 The Nose lies in the midst of its hinge. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Noses, a name given to some of the smaller shell plates from the edges of the carapace of the sea-tortoise.
c. Arch. The projecting part or edge of a moulding, stair-tread, or mullion.
c1815M. Edgeworth Parent's Assist. (1854) 320 He broke off in the midst of a speech about the nose of the stairs. 1847Smeaton Builder's Man. 184 All cornices and mouldings, and all works where the running mould is used, are measured from the nose of the moulding to the wall. 1876Encycl. Brit. IV. 475/1 Draw lines, showing the face (or what the workmen call the nose) of the mullion.
d. Bookbinding: (see quot.).
1865J. Hannett Bibliopegia Gloss. 399 In glueing up a volume, if the workman has not been careful to make all the sheets occupy a right line at the head, it will present a point either at the beginning or end, which point is called a nose.
e. A projecting part of an electric traction motor by which it is suspended from the framework of the bogie or vehicle.
1907Parshall & Hobart Electric Railway Engin. x. 451 In the case of a heavy motor there is usually a nose in the frame casting which rests on a bar carried by springs on the transom. 1927R. E. Dickinson Electric Trains vi. 110 On the other side of the motor case a projecting ‘nose’ is cast and this nose is fixed on the bogie transom with a stiff spring above and below it. 1955E. A. Binney Electric Traction Engin. vii. 126 The nose end of the motor is resiliently supported on the bogie transom.
15. The ‘eye’ of an apple, gooseberry, etc.
1718M. Eales Receipts 24 To preserve Green Jennitins. Cut out the Stalk and Nose, and put 'em in cold Water on a Coal-Fire 'till they peel. 1736,1879[implied in nose v. 5 a]. 1887S. Cheshire Gloss., Nose, the blossom on the ends of ripe gooseberries or currants.
16. white nose, a small white wave-crest.
1866Crichton Ramble Orcades 110 Many a ‘white nose’ chequering the blueness of the more open water.
IV. attrib. and Comb.
17. General combs.
a. Attributive, as nose-bleeding, nose-bone, nose-breadth, nose-carbuncle, nose-cloth, nose-jam, nose-net, nose-peg, nose-pin, nose-tip, nose weight, etc.
1578Lyte Dodoens Table Nature Herbs, [To] Stanche *Nose bleeding. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 461 Nose-bleeding and other strange effects.
1890W. F. Butler Sir Charles Napier xiii. 188 Others..have not had the nerves torn by a jagged ball passing through, breaking *nose-bones and jaw-bones, and lacerating nerves. 1956H. Gold Man who was not with It (1965) i. 7 Even if the sharpest nosebones worked their way into my cheeks.
a1667C. Hoole School-Colloq. 98 You are deceived your *nose-breadth, for we are repeating together.
1572Huloet, *Nose-bridge, or the particion whiche standeth between the twoo nosethrylles.
1652Benlowes Theoph. i. xx. 4 When our *nose-carbuncles, like link boys blaze before 'um.
1589Nashe Introd. Greene's Menaph. (Arb.) 15 Hee made his moist *nosecloth, the pausing intermedium, twixt euerie nappe.
c1000ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 157 Internasus,..*nosegristle. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 1 The space betwixt eyebrow and the nose grissles.
1785J. Collier Mus. Trav. (ed. 4) 30 The clerk of the parish..has the finest nasality, or *nose-intonation, that ever was given to a psalm-tune.
1922Joyce Ulysses 168 Sheepsnouts bloodypapered snivelling *nosejam on sawdust.
1862M. E. Rogers Dom. Life Palestine 381 These *nose-nails are worn by the younger girls, and are very fashionable.
1883Illustr. Sporting & Dramatic News 6 Jan. 407/2 He calls it a ‘*nose net’. It consists of an ordinary bag net, just large enough to encircle the muzzle of a horse... The effect..is to make a horse keep his mouth shut and.. to prevent him pulling. 1963E. H. Edwards Saddlery xii. 88 A very simple device is the nose-net... It is put over the nose and fastened fairly tightly to the noseband and will stop the majority of tearaways.
1695J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 243 So much of this..*nose-ornament.
1909Cent. Dict. Suppl. II. 875/1 *Nose-peg, a pin or stud attached to the quadrant-arm in a spinning-mule to effect an acceleration of the spindle in forming the cop. 1935H. H. Finlayson Red Centre xii. 118 The nose-peg..is a hardwood cylinder expanding to a disk at one end and a smaller pointed cone at the other... The young camel is thrown, the cartilage of the left nostril pierced.., and the peg pushed through the wound.
1966G. W. Turner Eng. Lang. Austral. & N.Z. iii. 39 Cook noticed the *nose⁓pins worn by native men. 1971World Archaeology III. 140 There might be an occasional stone nose-pin.
1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 694 The colt..should be led out to walk..by the *nose-rein of the cavesson.
1656Twa Sisters ix. in Child Ballads I. 126/2 What did he doe with her *nose-ridge? Unto his violl he made him a bridge.
1572Huloet, *Nose-tippe, or the ball of the nose. 1927W. de la Mare Told Again 246 The Fox then brushed himself nose-tip to stern with his brush. 1959‘Motor’ Man. (ed. 36) xiii. 270 A caravan with a heavy *nose weight tows more steadily than one without.
1601Holland Pliny II. Index, *Nose ulcers.
1597A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 29/4 The sixt is the *nose vayne, in the middest of the end of the nose, betweene the two gristles or cartilages.
b. Objective, or obj. genitive, as nose-borer, nose-maker, nose-mender, etc.; nose-blowing, nose-making, nose-painting, nose-pulling, etc.; also nose-pulled, † nose-wring.
1864J. S. Le Fanu Uncle Silas I. xxiv. 292 The boisterous *nose-blowing that suddenly resounded from the passage. 1967E. A. Gollschewsky in Coast to Coast 1965–6 87 The vehement nose-blowing..that marked her progress from room to room.
1760–2Goldsm. Cit. W. iii, Your *nose-borers, feet-swathers, tooth-stainers, eyebrow-pluckers.
a1879Lawrence in Life (1883) I. 320 The least I could do was to summon the *nose-maker, and let him try his skill.
1829Gentl. Mag. XCVII. ii. 535 Taliacotius has the credit of bringing the art of *nose-making into fashion.
1760Sterne Tr. Shandy iii. xxxviii, This Ambrose Paræus was chief surgeon and *nose-mender to Francis the Ninth.
1807–8W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 46 Agreeably painted and mottled by Mr. John Frost, *nose-painter-general.
1605Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 31 What three things does Drinke especially prouoke? Marry, Sir, *Nose-painting, Sleepe, and Vrine.
1862Thackeray Philip xxvii, His old comrade..whom he had insulted and *nose-pulled.
1712J. Heywood Spect. No. 268 ⁋2 A thing that..renders the *Nose-puller odious.
1807–8W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 229 They should be guaranteed from all dangers of..*nose-pulling, whipping-post, or prosecution for libels.
1682Otway Venice Preserved iii. (1735) 50 Common Stabbers, *Nose-slitters, Alley-lurking Villains!
1861Mrs. Lankester Wild Flowers 32 Nasturtium is a name given to all these biting plants; each being a nasus tortus, or *nose-twitcher.
1601Holland Pliny II. 29 Cresses tooke the name in Latine Nasturtium, a narium tormento, as a man would say, *Nose-wring, because it will make one writh and shrink vp his nosthrils.
1712Steele Spect. No. 268 ⁋2 One of these *Nose-wringers overhearing him, pinched him by the nose.
c. Miscellaneous, as nose-belled, nose-leafed; nose-grown, nose-high, nose-wards, etc.; nose-dropping.
1646G. Daniel Poems Wks. (Grosart) I. 60 Let vs rather Chuse Long *nose-bell'd Horses, such as Children vse.
1905J. Joyce Let. 19 Jan. (1966) II. 78 O, blind, snivelling, *nose-dropping, calumniated Christ.
1611Cotgr. s.v. Avantagé, Bien avantagé en nez, nosed with aduantage, well *nose-growne.
1567Drant Horace Ep. ii. E ij, In hote August a *nosehigh fyer wil do the as much good. 1657Thornley Daphnis & Chloe 110 About the Cock's crowing, made their fires nose-high. c1685in Dk. Buckhm. Wks. (1705) II. 48 She..made him a fire nose high.
1884Standard Nat. Hist. V. 173 The Phyllostomines are those *nose-leafed bats which have a long and narrow muzzle, a tongue of moderate length.
a1661B. Holyday Juvenal (1673) 79 He thinks thee *nose-led by his kitchin's smell. 1826Scott Woodst. viii, I will not be thus nose-led by him. 1885W. L. Blackley Thrift ii. xx. 108 The members of bad Friendly Societies are nose-led by their interested officials.
1869Eng. Mech. 3 Dec. 271/2 If by any means they are not drawn ‘*nosewards’.. they take a short cut and ‘well’ over the eyelid. 1881Graphic 5 Nov. 474/3 Her chin was drawn up nosewards.
18. Special combs.: nose-ape, the proboscis-monkey; nose-bridge, (a) = nose n. 1 d; (b) Archæol. denoting a type of handle found on pottery of the Copper Age in southern Europe; noseburn tree, a pungent tropical American tree (Daphnopsis tenuifolia), belonging to the spurge-laurel family (Treas. Bot. 1866); nose-candy U.S. slang, a drug that is inhaled (illegally), spec. cocaine; nose-clip, a clip excluding water from the nose of a swimmer or diver; † nose-compasses, eye-glasses; nose door Aeronaut., a forward-facing door in the nose of an aeroplane; nose drive, the positioning of the engines at the front of a space rocket; so nose-driven a.; nose drops, a medicament intended to be administered as drops into the nose; nose-fish (see quots.); nose-fly, (a) (see quot. a 1793); (b) the bot-fly which infests the nose-passages of sheep (Cent. Dict.); nose-fuse, a fuse inserted in the nose of a shell; nose-glasses U.S., eye-glasses held on the nose by a spring; † nose-gunpowder, snuff; nose hangar Aeronaut. (see quot. 1960); nose-heavy a. Aeronaut., having a tendency for the nose to drop relative to the tail; hence nose-heaviness; † nose-herb, a herb for smelling at; † nose-hold, a device to grasp the nose; † nose-hook, a hook for leading an ox by the nose-ring; † nose-horn, a beetle having a horn on the nose (cf. nasicornous); nose job colloq. (orig. U.S.), an operation involving rhinoplasty or cosmetic surgery on a person's nose; also fig.; nose-leaf, the foliaceous appendage of the nostrils in certain bats; † nose-man (see quot.); nose-monkey, the proboscis-monkey; nose-nippers pl. = pince-nez; nose-paint slang, intoxicating liquor; also, a reddening of the nose ascribed to habitual drinking (cf. nose-painter, -painting s.v. nose n. 17 b); nose paste = nose putty below; nose-pinch, a pince-nez; nose print, a drawing of the facial characteristics of an animal, used as a means of identification; so nose-printing vbl. n.; nose putty, a putty-like substance used in the theatre for altering the shape of the nose, etc.; nose-rag, a pocket-handkerchief (slang); nose-ride v. intr., to stand on the nose (cf. nose n. 13) of a surfboard (usu. as vbl. n.); nose-riders pl., spectacles; nose suspension, a method of supporting a traction motor from the framework of the bogie or vehicle at one end and on an axle at the other (cf. sense 14 e); so nose-suspended a.; † nose-tent, a medicinal plug for insertion in the nose; nose-thumbing vbl. n., the action of thumbing one's nose (nose n. 8 f); an instance of such behaviour; so (as a back-formation) nose-thumb n.; nose-to-tail adv. and a., (of motor vehicles) travelling, or placed, behind one another and very close together; nose-trick, the inadvertent inhalation or expulsion of liquid through the nose when drinking; nose-tube, a tube used for feeding a patient through the nose; nose wheel Aeronaut., a wheel under the nose of an aircraft; nose-wipe v., to cheat, deceive (cf. 10 b); n. = nose-wiper; nose-wiper, a pocket-handkerchief (slang); nose-worm, the larva of the sheep-bot.
1923A. Huxley Antic Hay x. 156 Shell rims with gold ear-pieces and gold *nose-bridge. 1939V. G. Childe Dawn Europ. Civilization (ed. 3) xiv. 245 In the pottery [of Sardinia before the nuragic age] we might distinguish:..carinated cups and other vessels with nose-bridge handles, which persist into the nuragic age.
1935A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 81/1 *Nose candy, cocaine. 1935C. F. Coe G-Man ii. 25 I'll lay off the booze an' you lay off the organizin', the nose-candy and the stick-ups. 1960Time 25 Jan. 88/2 Cocaine..is put into crystalline form. This enables users to sniff it (‘nose candy’). 1974Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 33/4 The movie omitted the morphine and left the cocaine because nose candy is the trendy drug.
1959Elizabethan Apr. 9/2 Following the orders of the sergeant I had..fitted the *nose clip in place [on an under-water breathing apparatus]. 1971A. Diment Think Inc. vii. 123, I bit on the rubber mouth-piece, put on the nose-clip and flipped down my face mask.
1654Gayton Pleas. Notes i. v. 17 She read without Spectacles, and could..see lost pins without the help of a paire of *Nose-compasses.
1960*Nose door [see beaver-tail s.v. beaver1 6]. 1969Jane's Freight Containers 1968–69 454/1 Loading is via a vizor-type, straight-in, nose-door with full-width integral ramps.
1937Discovery Sept. 270/2 First he [sc. Goddard] directed his attention to the so-called ‘*nose-drive’ construction. 1947W. Ley Rockets & Space Travel (1948) v. 134 The gases were to be ejected through a system of nozzles at the top of the rocket; the nozzles were to pull the rocket upward, instead of pushing it upward as planned in the original Oberth Rocket... This system, known as ‘nose drive’.., offered a great number of advantages. The rocket did not have to be constructed as sturdily nor did it require an elaborate steering mechanism.
1952E. Burgess Rocket Propulsion v. 131 It has been stated that *nose-driven rockets..are inherently more stable than those in which the motor is situated at the extreme rear. This is another common fallacy, for providing the thrust line of the motor passes through the centre of gravity of the rocket, the actual position of the motor cannot affect stability.
1942T. Sollmann Man. Pharmacol. (ed. 6) 165 ‘*Nose drops’, i.e., solutions in liquid petrolatum for instillation into the nares, should not contain more than 1 per cent of eucalyptol or camphor. 1970Women's Household July 12/1 When he needed nose drops badly he would come over to one of us and stick up his nose.
1828–32Webster, *Nose-Fish,..a fish of the leather-mouthed kind, with a broad flat snout; called also broad-snout. 1890Cent. Dict., Nose-fish, the bat-fish, Malthe vespertilio.
a1793G. White Selborne (1837) 472 A species of fly..which proves very tormenting to horses, trying still to enter their nostrils and ears... Country people call this insect the *nose fly. 1839Holloway Prov. Dict., Nose-fly, a very fine, delicately made fly, which gets into horses' noses, and stinging them, frequently causes them to run away.
1888Times 2 Oct. 3/2 The shape of the heads [of shells] which were suitable only for a *nose fuse.
1890Cent. Dict. V. 4020/2 *Nose glasses. 1901Ade Forty Mod. Fables 22 He said ‘Whom,’ and wore Nose Glasses. 1929D. Runyon in Hearst's International Oct. 64/1 To look at Judge Henry G. Blake, with his..nose glasses. 1971Lebende Sprachen XVI. 11/2 US nose glasses—BE/US pince-nez.
1706E. Baynard in Floyer Cold Baths ii. 197 A charge of *Nose Gun-Powder, Snuff 'twixt Finger and Thumb.
1948Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LII. 573 In the civil field the ‘*nose hangar’, such as that used successfully by KLM for the Constellation last winter, is a realistic effort to provide shelter where it is needed, instead of enclosing space at random. 1960G. Blanchet Search in North v. 66 Nose hangars were built—sheds in which the front of a plane could be sheltered and work done on its engines. 1970R. & J. Paterson Cranberry Portage xiv. 87 A great deal of time was spent warming aircraft engines with roaring fire-pots inside the canvas nose-hangars.
1919A. Klemin Text-bk. Aeronaut. Engin. xv. 178 The down stream from the propellers..is said to increase the safety from the point of view of longitudinal balance, giving tail heaviness with power, and *nose heaviness without power. 1930R. Duncan Stunt Flying iii. 26 Nose-heaviness, or tail-heaviness, can be corrected by adjusting the horizontal stabilizer. 1959Times 8 Sept. 13/6 There is no feeling of nose-heaviness, and the steering does not have any tricks on corners.
1914S. L. Walkden How to understand Aeroplanes ii. 5 This ‘front-heavy,’ or ‘*nose-heavy’ machine..is devoid of a self-righting effect. 1917Flying I. 217/1 A stable aeroplane has its centre of gravity well forward, and normally the centre of pressure is behind the centre of gravity. Without a fixed tail plane it would therefore be nose heavy. 1945R. von Mises Theory of Flight xvii. 501 If the state of motion changes or the loads are shifted, the airplane will become slightly nose- or tail-heavy so that the pilot has to operate the elevator.
1601Shakes. All's Well iv. v. 20 They are not [salad] hearbes you knaue, they are *nose-hearbes.
1797Monthly Mag. XLVI. 215 Prejudice is the *nose-hold for certain purposes, of the otherwise intractable.
1778W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric. 4 Aug. 1775 Hoed the late-planted cabbages with one ox and the *nose-hook.
1658Rowland tr. Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1008 We have seen four kindes of *Nose-horns, the chiefest and greatest of all lives in India, it is very black, it hath a nose on its face crooked horn'd like to the stern of a ship.
1963T. Pynchon V iv. 95 Chapter four. In which Esther gets a *nose job. 1978Detroit Free Press 16 Apr. (Detroit Suppl.) 11/1 Cosmetic plastic surgery..will cost you about $1,000 for a nose job;..$1,000 for an eye lift [etc.]. 1979Observer 11 Feb. 33/2 A hammer-wielding Australian..had given the Madonna a nose-job. 1984Which? Aug. 346/3 It was what the trade calls a ‘nose job’ with the fashionable aim of smoothing the passage of the car through the air.
1837Penny Cycl. VII. 22/1 *Nose-leaf simple, solitary. 1864H. Allen Bats N. Amer. Introd. 15 There is some doubt whether the nose leaves hold the same relation to the olfactory sense.
1599H. Buttes Dyets Drie Dinner P 3 b, Plinies *Nosemen (mouthles men) surnam'd, Whose breathing nose supply'd Mouths absency.
1883Cassell's Nat. Hist. I. 88 The newly born *Nose Monkey is a most extraordinary object.
1895J. Davidson Old Aberdeenshire Ministers 26 The Aberdeen Journal, which he read aloud..in a loud monotone, nasalised by the light grip of a large pair of *nose-nippers worn low. 1900Conrad Lord Jim v. 40 He saw the old man lift his head from some writing so sharp that his nose-nippers fell off. a1913F. Rolfe Desire & Pursuit of Whole (1934) vii. 61 Smirking female with the thinnest of pinched lips and nose-nippers.
1880A. A. Hayes New Colorado (1881) xi. 158 We saw..a sign, in which a name which I have never encountered elsewhere was given to stimulating beverages. This sign was ‘*Nose-paint and Lunch’. 1901F. E. Taylor Folk-Speech S. Lancs., Nose-paint, a jocular term for alcoholic drink. 1922Joyce Ulysses 615 A strong suspicion of nosepaint about the nasal appendage. 1968Amer. Speech XLIII. 303 He [sc. the cowman] drinks..nose paint instead of ‘whiskey’.
1951N. Marsh Opening Night vii. 156 One cardboard box containing false hair, rouge, substance labelled ‘*nose paste’. 1961Bowman & Ball Theatre Lang. 233 Nose paste, a plastic substance used to alter the appearance of an actor's nose, chin, etc.
1896Punch 4 Apr. 160/2 The tall, meagre females..in abbreviated hair and a *nose-pinch.
1939Sun (Baltimore) 15 Sept. 15/2 The ‘*nose print’ of a dog is as distinctive as the finger print of a human being. 1952Ibid. 8 Dec. 10/4 Three dairy scientists of the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station at Brookings, S.D., have worked out a system of nose prints by means of which it is possible to identify one individual cow from a million others. 1970B. Knox Children of Mist iii. 56 Sometimes breeders..try to work a switch of animal. So we keep one nose-print on file in special cases..ready for comparison. 1973Times 26 Nov. 17/5 Four investigators followed the trail of the animals, to establish ‘contact’ with them and where possible, to draw ‘noseprints’—simple drawings of nostril shape and facial wrinkles—to identify the particular animals and their approximate stages of development.
1939Sun (Baltimore) 15 Sept. 15/2 A plan for nation⁓wide identification of dogs by ‘*nose printing’ to eliminate ‘dognapping’. 1960A. Christie Adventure of Xmas Pudding 223 Why did I feel..I was talking to..an actor playing a part!.. What did I see..the beaked nose (faked with that useful substance, *nose putty), [etc.]. 1969K. Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five v. 88 Rosewater was a big man, but not very powerful. He looked as though he might be made out of nose putty.
1838Haliburton Clockm. (1862) 367 Tickle, tickle goes my boscis agin, and I had to stop to sarch my pocket for my *nose-rag.
1965Farrelly & McGregor This Surfing Life 138 *Nose-ride, to ride on the nose of the surfboard.
1875E. H. Dering Sherborne II. xviii. 53 Sir Thomas..put on a pair of those glasses which are popularly known as *nose-riders.
1962Austral. Women's Weekly Suppl. 24 Oct. 3/3 *Nose-riding, standing right at front of the board while riding a wave. 1971Studies in English (Univ. Cape Town) Feb. 25 Until the end of the nose-riding era, the run of Cape Town surfers identified with the Californian scene as portrayed in Surfer.
1927R. E. Dickinson Electric Trains vi. 111 Fig. 48 shows a bogie with two *nose-suspended motors in place. 1948D. W. & M. Hinde Electric & Diesel-Electric Locomotives ii. 25 During the past few years, however, nose-suspended motors mounted on bogies have become standard practice on all American diesel-electric locomotives.
1894K. Hedges Amer. Electr. Street Railways vii. 75 In the case of the G.E. 800 type when the side suspension is used, the whole of the weight is taken off the axle, whereas by the older method half the weight only was on the cross bar, resting on springs, and the remainder on the axle. One method is known as the End or *Nose Suspension, the other as the Side Bar Suspension. 1927R. E. Dickinson Electric Trains vi. 111 For multiple unit trains the nose suspension is practically universal. 1948D. W. & M. Hinde Electric & Diesel-Electric Locomotives ii. 24 Where hammer-blow on the track and axle-loading are not limiting factors and provided that there is one motor per driven axle, nose-suspension is the simplest form of drive obtainable.
1601Holland Pliny II. 61 Cumin reduced into the form of trochisks or *nose-tents, put vp into the nosthrils, stancheth bloud.
1963Guardian 11 Feb. 2/6 Their medical officer of health..is leaving his post because of the council's continued *nose-thumb at the Clean Air Act.
1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. xiv. 317 That peculiar form of recognition variously known as ‘the five-finger salute’, ‘*nose thumbing’,..‘cocking a snook’, or ‘taking a sight’ used, thirty years ago, to be demonstrated by every child in the country. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 26 Sept. 23/5 A nose-thumbing gesture comes as a blessed relief in a movie so painfully earnest.
1959Manch. Guardian 20 July 2/5 Four L-drivers *nose to tail on a busy road. 1960Guardian 7 June 6/1 The accustomed queues of nose-to-tail traffic on main roads. 1963Times 11 June 5/4 Yet above the garage cars sit nose-to-tail on free space within the park, and scour Mayfair for vacant meters. 1974C. Fremlin By Horror Haunted 48 The nose-to-tail crawl along the motorway.
1954P. Frankau Wreath for Enemy ii. i. 58 It was the ‘Prendergast’ that made me do what is vulgarly called the *nose-trick with my lemonade. 1972P. Dickinson Lizard in Cup ix. 132 Pibble almost did the nose-trick with the dung-smelling local brandy.
1899Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 300, I..feed the patient by the *nose-tube if she cannot be got to take enough nourishment otherwise.
1934Flight 6 Dec. 1301 A castor *nose wheel allows the fullest use to be made of the wheel brakes of the Hammond Model Y. 1940Illustr. London News CXCVII. 315 (caption) The ‘Boston’ has..an undercarriage of the tricycle type—two rear wheels retracting into the rear of the engine nacelles and the nosewheel retracting rearwards and upwards into the fuselage. 1974Daily Tel. 5 Oct. 1 A Belgian airliner..pitched on to its nose on the main runway at Southend airport when the nosewheel collapsed shortly before takeoff.
1919W. Deeping Second Youth ii. 13 Yer dirty little wretch yer; ain't yer got a *nose-wipe?
1628H. Burton Israel's Fast Ded. 13 Cheated and *nosewiped euen to their face.
a1895Ld. C. E. Paget Autobiog. (1896) i. 4 Charged with my relay of *nose-wipers, I was close to his Majesty on the steps of the throne.
1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. vii. i. 326 The œstrus of the sheep.., called by Reaumur ‘Fly of the *Nose-worm’.
▪ II. nose, v.|nəʊz|
[f. the n.]
I. trans.
1. a. To perceive the smell of (something); to discover or notice by the sense of smell.
1577–87Harrison Descr. Scotl. viii. in Holinshed, He neuer ceasseth to range till he haue nosed his footing. 1602Shakes. Ham. iv. iii. 38 You shall nose him as you go vp the staires into the Lobby. 1614B. Jonson Barth. Fair i. iii, There cannot be an ancient Tripe or Trillibub i' the Towne, but thou art straight nosing it. 1795Sporting Mag. V. 85 A partner in a banking-house, who lives near enough..to nose his lordship's kitchen. 1815Southey Jrnl. Tour in Netherlands (1903) 153 You might nose them [cheeses] at a considerable distance. 1861F. Nightingale Nursing (ed. 2) 7 Although we ‘nose’ the murderers in the musty, unaired, unsunned room.
b. fig. To find out, detect, discover, as if by means of a keen scent.
1767S. Paterson Anoth. Trav. I. 368 If a pickpocket noses a peer upon the turf. 1824Blackw. Mag. XV. 335 We nosed him as the prime contributor to the New Monthly. 1893W. A. Shee My Contemp. viii. 219 The parliamentary ‘busybody’..nosing a job in every Ministerial move.
c. To scent or smell out (in lit. and fig. uses).
c1630B. Jonson Underwoods lxi. 139 The Brethren they straight nosed it out for news. 1828Scott F.M. Perth iii, My daughter and I could nose out either a fasting hypocrite or a full one. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxix. 388 Began..to turn them over and nose out their fatness. 1877Scribner's Mag. XV. 170/2, I have seen a pack..nose out the scent under an inch of light snow.
2. a. To confront, reproach, or upbraid (a person) with something. Now only dial.
1625Burges Pers. Tithes 60 None of the best Proctors for vs Tithing-men, but One with whom we poore Vicars are daily nosed. 1641J. Shute Sarah & Hagar (1649) 71 This..frequent fault in the world; which is, when men haue done kindness to others, to nose them with it. 1733Revol. Politicks ii. 51 What is this,..but affronting and noseing the Bishops with Popery to their very Faces? 1753J. Collier Art Torment. 123 If he loves company,..nose him with your great love of needle-work and housewifery. 1889N.W. Linc. Gloss.
b. To confront, face, or oppose (a person, etc.) in an impudent or insolent manner. (Cf. beard v. 3.)
1629Randolph Jealous Lovers i. iv, Y'are an arrant Coxcomb To tell me so. My daughter nos'd by a slut! 1649Quarles Virgin Widow ii. i, When Pertenax..Could nose the King, and beard him to his face. 1673Bp. S. Parker Reproof Reh. Transp. 157 You began to lift up your heads, and to nose your Governours. 1733Killigrew in Jrnl. R. Inst. Cornwall IX. ii. (1887), Mr. Rogers made him town sergeant and mace bearer, to nose Sir Peter and his interest. 1796Burke Let. to Noble Ld. Wks. VIII. 14 A sort of national convention..nosed parliament in the very seat of its authority. 1824Hist. Gaming 16 Is not the thought appalling, that a monarch..should thus be..nosed in his own courtly dwelling?
c. To sit opposite and close to (one); to meet, encounter, come in one's way.
1812Colman Br. Grins, Luminous Hist. xiii, Nosing Eudoxus, blue-eyed Agnes sat. 1831Blackw. Mag. XXX. 324 The French noblesse had no grandeur. No man could be impressed reverentially by titles which nosed him in every corner of every street.
†3. To cheat or defraud (one) of something. Obs.
a1652Brome Eng. Moor i. ii, 'Twould anger any man to be nos'd of such a match. 1679Brian Pisse-prophet 60, I am like to be nosed of a patient.
4. a. To utter with a nasal twang; to sing through the nose.
a1643W. Cartwright Ordinary iii. v, It makes far better musick when you nose Sternold's, or Wisdom's meeter. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) VI. 220 After he has nosed and mumbled over his responses.
b. To puff out through the nose. rare—1.
1658Osborn Adv. Son Wks. (1673) 23, I..cannot approve nosing, or swallowing it [tobacco] down. 1693Littleton Dict., To nose Tobacco, peti fumum per nares efflare.
5. a. To pick the noses off (gooseberries, etc.).
1736Bailey Househ. Dict. 309 Nose your gooseberries. 1879G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., We nosed about eight quarts o' black curran's after milkin' time.
b. To put a nosing on (a step).
1884Hor. Smith Negligence (ed. 2) 185 note, Slipping on steps nosed with brass.
6. a. To rub with the nose; to press the nose close to, thrust the nose into (something).
1777G. Forster Voy. round World I. 224 They immediately saluted the family of natives on board, with the usual application of noses, or as our sailors expressed it, they nosed each other. 1839–48Bailey Festus viii. 81 Nosing each-other like a flock of sheep. 1868Tennyson Lucretius 100 Lambs are glad Nosing the mother's udder.
transf.1876C. D. Warner Mummies & Moslems xix. 250 It does not need our eyes to tell us when the bow of the boat noses the swift water.
b. To examine with the nose; to put the nose close to (a thing) in examining.
a1851Moir Highlander's Return ix, Old Stumah fawning fain, First nosed him round, then licked his hand. 1873Routledge's Young Gentlm. Mag. Apr. 280/2 A serious accident may repay you for nosing it too closely. 1882Stevenson New Arab. Nts. I. 91 The New-Englander nosed all the cracks..with the most passionate attention.
c. To push (one's way) with the nose.
1894Hall Caine Manxman v. iii. 288 Cranching among the boats as they nosed their way to the harbour mouth. 1926E. F. Spanner Naviators i. 9 The car nosed its way ahead on bottom gear, and at a snail's pace. 1937Discovery Feb. 38/2 We nosed our way through the reeds. 1973P. Moyes Curious Affair i. 14 The station wagon nosed its way along the narrow road.
d. To direct the nose of (a motor vehicle, etc.) in a certain direction.
1954‘N. Shute’ Slide Rule iv. 89 The elevator coxswain nosed her [sc. an airship] upwards to about a thousand feet. 1972D. Delman Week to Kill 139, I nosed the car out of town and on to 118, where I zapped it into high.
7. To lead about by the nose.
1885Howells Silas Lapham (1891) I. 258 As long as you live you'll have to be nosed about like..I don't know what!
II. intr.
8. a. To apply or employ the nose in examining or smelling; to sniff, smell.
1783Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ode to R.A.'s vii, Closely nosing, o'er the Picture dwell, As if to try the goodness by the smell. 1823Blackw. Mag. XIV. 530 Panting and open mouth'd and nosing. 1871Blackie Four Phases Mor. i. 42 You expect your dog to nose well. 1891M. M. Dowie Girl in Karp. 141 One of the horses woke me by nosing at my arm in a friendly way.
b. Const. with about or round. Chiefly fig.
1869Blackmore Lorna D. iii, Our two pads..began to nose about and crop. 1879‘Mark Twain’ Let. 21 Jan. (1920) I. 187 The detectives were nosing around after Stewart's loud remains. 1887Lantern (New Orleans) 3 Dec. 2/3 We nosed around to try and find out why. 1895Cable John March 259 If that fellow's still nosing round here with his gun. 1898Daily Tel. 22 Aug. 5/3 The whole duty of a dog is to keep other dogs from nosing round its master's garden. 1917Wodehouse Uneasy Money iv. 43 There's no harm in my nosing round, is there? Be a good chap and give me the address. 1925― Carry On, Jeeves! i. 28 He began to nose about. He pulled out drawer after drawer. 1955A. Huxley Let. 25 Sept. (1969) 766 While in Guildford I read, or rather nosed about in, Penfield's book on Epilepsy. 1958P. Kemp No Colours or Crest iii. 36 We nosed around the Islands, sometimes less than a mile off shore, searching for indications of our quarry.
c. To pry or search (after or for something); also with among. to nose upon (see quot. 1812).
1648Regall Apol. 11 They go nosing and smelling after faults. 1812J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., To nose, is to pry into any person's proceedings in an impertinent manner. To nose upon any one, is to tell of any thing he has said or done with a view to injure him, or to benefit yourself. 1871Meredith H. Richmond III. 122 What the deuce they do here nosing after my grandson! 1899Hewlett in Blackw. Mag. Feb. 326/1 Franciscans..and Dominicans..who got wind of something amiss, and began to nose for a scandal. 1936R. Lehmann Weather in Streets ii. 189, I thought of her nosing in my room for signs. 1941A. Curnow in Chapman & Bennett N.Z. Verse (1956) 148, I am the nor'west air nosing among the pines.
d. To inform; † to turn king's evidence. Criminals' slang.
1811[see twist v. 9 c]. 1822J. Mackcoull Mem. Life 112 Nosed,..watched and informed against. 1846tr. E. Sue's Myst. of Paris cli. 743/1 Gros Boiteux..has already wanted to escarper him, (make him a stiff 'un—kill him,) because he has mangé (nosed, informed upon some one). 1923E. Wallace Missing Million xix. 156 When a copper comes to one of the ‘boys’ for expert advice, it means he wants him to ‘nose’. 1930― White Face x. 147 You come down 'ere an' expect us to ‘nose’ for you, and everybody in the court knows we're ‘nosing’.
9. To push with the nose. Also transf. with ahead, to go into the lead by a small margin.
1891Meredith One of our Conq. I. i. 12 A steamer slowly noseing round off the wharf-cranes. 1898Daily News 7 May 7/5 The Morrill, which had been nosing up towards us, swung across the path of the liner. 1960Times 1 July 18/1 So Miss Truman had nosed ahead at last. 1971Wodehouse Much Obliged, Jeeves xiii. 134 If the McCorkadale nosed ahead of him in the voting, Florence would in all probability hand him the pink slip.
10. Of strata or veins: To dip in, to run out.
1879Geikie in Encycl. Brit. X. 301/1 When a fold diminishes in this way it is said to ‘nose out’... Hence the anticline noses out to the north and the syncline to the south. 1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-Mining 175 A stratum is said to nose in when it dips beneath the ground or into a hill-side in a V or nose form.
11. nose down Aeronaut.: to direct the nose of an aircraft downwards, to produce or undergo a (downward) steepening of the flight path.
1916H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 85 If a sharp turn necessitates banking beyond that angle, he must ‘nose⁓down’. Ibid. 88 The C.G. being forward of the C.P...causes the aeroplane to nose-down. 1938V. W. Pagé Airplane Servicing Man. xxiv. 818 It is considered advisable, if the engine should stop, that the plane will nose down automatically, instead of tending to stall. 1958R. D. Blacker Basic Aeronaut. Sci. xi. 195/1 The vertical portion of the lift was not as great as the weight of the airplane and it nosed down, losing altitude. 1974J. Montgomerie Implosion xii. 86 We crossed the coast, nosing down over pewter sea... Runway rose towards us.
12. Of an aircraft: to fall over on its ‘nose’. Of a surfboard: to plunge downward nose first.
1928V. W. Pagé Mod. Aircraft xii. 523 Always pick as smooth and level a piece of ground as possible when making a landing, as, if the ground is very soft or if there are hummocks or ditches, the machine is very likely to ‘nose over’. 1953Berg Dict. New Words 115/2 Nose over... Flying. To fall nose forward. 1963Surfing Yearbk. 42/2 Nosing, when the nose of the surfboard goes under water while riding a wave. 1965J. Pollard Surfrider ii. 20 Don't let your board ‘nose’. This is what happens when the front of the surf board digs in.
¶ Johnson's ‘Nose, v.n. To look big; to bluster’, copied with variations by later Dicts., is based on the misreading noses for noises in the passage quoted by him from Shakes. Ant. & Cl.
Hence ˈnosing vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also Comb., as nosing motion (see quot. 1940).
1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 125, I cannot stand nosing of Candlestickes, or euphuing of Similes. 1775Ash, Nosing, the act of taking by the nose. 1828P. Cunningham N.S. Wales (ed. 3) II. 228 If they suspect any one of nosing [note, informing], they will conceal some of their own things in his bag. 1883H. E. Walmsley Cotton Spinning 30 The terminal velocity of the spindles may be increased in the same ratio, as their diameter decreases. This object is attained by Platt's automatic nosing motion. 1884R. Marsden Cotton Spinning ix. 264 The last invention.., which seems to answer all needs, is the automatic nosing motion brought out by Messrs. Platts, and which consists of a scroll placed upon the end of the winding-on drum. 1888Stevenson in Scribner's Mag. III. 768 Perpetual nosing after snobbery at least suggests the snob. 1897Kipling Capt. Cour. iii, The nosing bows slapped and scuffled with the seas. 1932W. Scott-Taggart Cotton Machinery Sketches (ed. 4) p. xviii, Diagram of Cop, etc., illustrating Principle of Nosing Motion. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 583/2 Nosing motion (Cotton Spinning), a motion on the mule spinning frame which, as the diameter lessens, increases the speed of the tapering spindle on which a cop is being wound.
▪ III. nose
obs. form of noise n. and v. |