nose.
A protuberance on the face housing the nostrils, which are used to breathe or smell.
Meaning & usage
A protuberance on the face housing the nostrils, which are used to breathe or smell.
She had a small nose between two sparkling blue eyes.
A snout, the nose of an animal.
The tip of an object.
the nose of a tea-kettle, a bellows, or a fighter plane
The bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, that fits into the hole of its adjacent piece.
The length of a horse’s nose, used to indicate the distance between horses at the finish of a race, or any very close race.
Red Rum only won by a nose.
A perfumer.
The sense of smell.
Bouquet, the smell of something, especially wine.
The skill in recognising bouquet.
It is essential that a winetaster develops a good nose.
Skill at finding information.
A successful tabloid reporter has a nose for gossip.
The action of nosing, in the sense to snoop
They had a nose around the abandoned property.
A downward projection from a cornice.
An informer.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English nose, from Old English nosu, from Proto-West Germanic *nosu, variant of *nasō, old dual from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s- ~ *nh₂es- (“nose, nostril”). See also Saterland Frisian Noose, West Frisian noas, Dutch neus, Swedish nos, Norwegian nos (“snout”), Low German Nääs, German Nase, Swedish näsa, Norwegian nese, Danish næse (“nose”); also Latin nāris (“nostril”), nāsus (“nose”), Lithuanian nósis, Russian нос (nos), Sanskrit नासा (nā́sā, “nostrils”).
To move cautiously by advancing its front end.
The ship nosed through the minefield.
To snoop.
She was nosing around other people’s business.
To detect by smell or as if by smell.
To push with one's nose; to nuzzle.
To defeat (as in a race or other contest) by a narrow margin; sometimes with out.
To utter in a nasal manner; to pronounce with a nasal twang.
to nose a prayer
To furnish with a nose.
to nose a stair tread
To confront; be closely face to face or opposite to.
To dive down in a steep angle; to nosedive
To travel with the nose of the plane/ship aimed in a particular direction.
The plane is nosing up!
We have to get it nosing down.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English nose, from Old English nosu, from Proto-West Germanic *nosu, variant of *nasō, old dual from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s- ~ *nh₂es- (“nose, nostril”). See also Saterland Frisian Noose, West Frisian noas, Dutch neus, Swedish nos, Norwegian nos (“snout”), Low German Nääs, German Nase, Swedish näsa, Norwegian nese, Danish næse (“nose”); also Latin nāris (“nostril”), nāsus (“nose”), Lithuanian nósis, Russian нос (nos), Sanskrit नासा (nā́sā, “nostrils”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.