nose
/[nəʊ̯z]/
Forms
- Plural
- noses
- present (v1)
- nose
- past (v2)
- nosed
- past participle (v3)
- nosed
- present participle
- nosing
- 3rd person singular
- noses
Definitions
1.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.
2.The tip of an object.
- Her crew knew that deep in her heart beat engines fit and able to push her blunt old nose ahead at a sweet fourteen knots, come Hell or high water.
- We submerged very slowly and without headway more than sufficient to keep her nose in the right direction, and as we went down, I saw outlined ahead of us the black opening in the great cliff.
3.The bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, that fits into the hole of its adjacent piece.
- If you go underwater, hold your nose and blow to clear your ears.
4.A snout, the nose of an animal.
- If you go underwater, hold your nose and blow to clear your ears.
1.To move cautiously by advancing its front end.
- The ship nosed through the minefield.
- Promontory's "last spike" ceremony was so significant to the USA's history that it is still regularly re-enacted today, using replica locomotives that nose up to each other just as the originals did.
2.To snoop.
- She was nosing around other people’s business.
3.To detect by smell or as if by smell.
- Real connoisseurs know that to nose and taste properly you have to add still water to your tulip-shaped glass so that the alcohol doesn't overwhelm you.
4.To push with one's nose; to nuzzle.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1972
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Common
Etymology
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”).