nosern.
/ˈnəʊzə/, U.S. /ˈnoʊzər/ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > wind > [noun] > wind as means of propulsion > dead ahead
noser1756
muzzler1857
dead muzzler1874
nose-ender1907
1756 H. Laurens Let. 5 July in Papers (1970) II. 241 Pray what can be become of the Thomas... Tis not improbable he may have met a nozer on the Coast..& bore away to the West Indias.
1852 Beck's Florist 13 The fair wind..soon shifted into an adverse quarter, and off the coast of Scotland..it became a dead noser.
1873 W. Cory Lett. & Jrnls. (1897) 303 The hurricane born of Captain Rice's ‘noser’ came on us fourteen hours after.
2. colloquial.† a. A blow on the nose. Cf. nose-ender n. 1. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > striking > striking on specific part of the body > [noun] > on the head > on the nose
snitch1676
snitchel1676
conker1821
smeller1824
nozzler1828
noser1829
snorter1829
nose-ender1854
1829 P. Egan Boxiana New Ser. II. 353 The Sailor Boy returned another noser.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 12/2 The winner is the man who gives the first ‘noser’; a bloody nose however is required to show that the blow was veritably a noser.
b. A fall on the nose (cf. nosedive n. 1b). Also (Air Force slang): = nosedive n. 1a. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > downward motion > falling > [noun] > falling down or from erect position (animates) > on head or nose
crowner1850
noser1862
1862 ‘Scrutator’ Country Gentleman II. 42 That Irish Baronet had a noser at the same place.
1940 S. P. E. Tract (Soc. for Pure Eng.) No. LV. 194 One's engine may conk..and take a noser or nose-dive.
3. A prying or inquisitive person, a person who seeks out; spec. (slang) an informer or spy for the police.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > [noun] > person having
inquisitor?1504
ferret1629
curioso1658
inquisitive1690
numquid1833
pry1837
noser1860
1860 Cornhill Mag. Sept. 336 There are a few men and women among thieves called nosers... They are in the secret pay of the police.
1903 Cincinnati Enquirer 9 May 13/2 Piker..a cheap grafter; a noser; a butterinsky.
1909 ‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny xiii. 207 Two of the little, brown, oily nosers in red trousers slid in to make an inspection.
1955 H. Martinson Road 128 There was no describing him as you describe a human being, but as a vagrant pot, a noser-out of porridge and pork.
1992 Sunday Times (Nexis) 5 July An East Anglian with a Celtic soul, a visionary writer and incorrigible noser into other people's business.
4. Distilling. A person employed to assess or maintain the quality of an alcoholic drink (esp. whisky) by inhaling the aroma; spec. a master distiller. Cf. nose v.1 1c.
ΚΠ
1986 Toronto Star 27 Aug. a23/4 But the one real change across the centuries is that most of the so-called nosers—like wine-tasters, malt-tasters sniff it rather than sip it—now are women.
1993 G. D. Smith Whisky 140 The master distiller or noser as he is usually known will develop his own shorthand which he uses to describe odours.
1997 Independent 3 Mar. i. 3/1 Mr Robertson is the Macallan's chief noser at its Speyside distillery in the Highland village of Craigellachie.
2001 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 8 Nov. 44 ‘Noser’ Ian Morrison, above, described the 1841 Macallan—worth 18 times its weight in gold—as ‘quite fruity, citrusy, and slightly peated’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1756