Nose definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (81)

American Heritage Dictionary (18)

noun The part of the human face or the forward part of the head of other vertebrates that contains the nostrils and organs of smell and forms the beginning of the respiratory tract.
noun The sense of smell: a dog with a good nose.
noun The ability to detect, sense, or discover as if by smell: has a nose for gossip.

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Century Dictionary (44)

The special organ of the sense of smell, formed by modifications of certain bones and fleshy parts of the face, its cavities, or fossæ, freely communicable with the cavities of the mouth and lungs, and hence also concerned in respiration, the utterance of words or vocal sounds, and taste. It is lined throughout by a highly vascular mucous membrane called the pituitary or Schneiderian, continuous with the skin through the nostrils, the conjunctiva of the eye, and the mucous membrane of the pharynx and sinuses. It is in this membrane that the fine filaments of the olfactory nerves terminate, and over it the inspired air containing odorous substances passes. The olfactory region, or that region to which the olfactory nerves are distributed, however, includes only the upper and middle turbinate parts of the nasal fossæ and the upper part of the septum; the lower part of the cavities has nothing to do with olfaction. Externally the nose commonly forms a prominent feature of the face or facial region of the head; when very long it becomes a proboscis, and may acquire a tactile or manual function, as in the elephant, hog, mole, etc. The nose of an animal when moderately prominent is usually called a snout, muzzle, or muffle. The bridge of the nose is so much of its external prominence as is bridged over or roofed in by the nasal bones. The external opening of the nose is the nostril, usually paired, right and left, and technically called nares. The inner passages or cavities of the nose are the nasal fossœ or meatus; they open interiorly into the upper part of the pharynx, by oriflces called the posterior nares or choanœ, above the soft palate. The animal whose nose most resembles man's in size and shape is the proboscis-monkey, Nasalis larvatus, whose nose is more prominent than that of most men. Prominence of the nose is to some extent an indication of ascent in the scale of human development, the nose being flattest in the lowest or negroid races. A large nose is commonly supposed to indicate strength of character, and thin clean-cut nostrils are generally a sign of high nervous organization. Besides its special function of smelling, the nose has in all animals a respiratory office, being, rather than the mouth, the usual passageway for air in both inspiration and expiration; it also serves to modify or modulate the voice, and to discharge the secretion from several cavities of the head, as the frontal and other sinuses, and the tears from the eyes. See cuts under mouth, nasal, Nasalis, and Condylura. The ix bateile ledde Groinge poire mole, that was a noble knyght of his body, but he hadde no gretter nose than a cat. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 321. The big round tears Coursed one another down his innocent nose In piteous chase. Shak., As you Like it, ii. l. 39. Wise Nature likewise, they suppose, Has drawn two Conduits down our Nose. Prior, Alma, i.
Hence The sense of smell; the faculty of smelling, or the exercise of that faculty; scent; olfaction. Wiʒtly the werwolf than went bi nose Euene to the herdes house. William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), l. 90. You shall often see among the Dogs a loud babbler, with a bad nose, lead the unskilful. Bp. Berkeley, Minute Philosopher.
Something supposed to resemble a nose. A pointed or tapering projection or part in front of an object, as of a ship or a pitcher. The [steamship] Thingvalla's nose was ripped completely off, clear back to the first bulkhead. Sci. Amer., N. S., LIX. 319. A nozle, as of a bellows; a pipe. By means of a plug and seat arranged just below the outlet pipe, or nose, communication with the neighbouring tank or settlers can be made or cut off at will. Spons' Encyc. Manuf., I. 296. The beak or rostrum of a still. The end of a mandrel on which the chuck of a lathe is secured. In metallurgy, an accumulation of chilled material around the end of the twyer in the blast-furnace. In glass-blowing, the round opening or neck left when the blowpipe is separated from the glass in blowing. The small marginal plate of the upper shell of the hawkbill-turtle: same as foot, 14. In tortoise-shell manuf., same as foot, 13. In entomology, a name sometimes given to the front part of an insect's head, comprising the clypeus and labrum: these, however, have nothing in common with the nose of vertebrated animals. In architecture: (1) A drip; a downward projection from a cornice or molding, designed to throw off rainwater. (2) A rib, projection, or keel characterizing any member, as a mullion or molding. The face (or what the workmen call the nose) of the mullion. Encyc. Brit., IV. 475. A point of land. [Provincial English]

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Examples (50)

Why, if her nose was at the Main Street corner, by the Washington Hotel, her rudder would be half-way across the Cocahutchie He walked the wharf, staring at her from end to end, before he went on board. — Crowded Out o' Crofield or, The Boy who made his Way
I see myself that her nose is a tiny bit crooked The prince and princess and the old ama went back to the prince's own kingdom where the wedding of the prince and princess was celebrated with a great feast. — Tales of Giants from Brazil
Paul saw a man with an olive face set with dark, almond-shaped eyes beneath a pair of oblique and finely-pencilled brows; his nose was aquiline and assertive, his mouth shrewd and mean and scarcely hidden by a carefully-trained and very faintly-waxed moustache. — High Noon A New Sequel to 'Three Weeks' by Elinor Glyn
Her tusks, like those of a boar, projected from under her nostrils, and the ring and hook in her nose was a formidable weapon of offence, though intended to prevent her from digging up the ground. — Paddy Finn
I turned the handle, and even before I saw into the room, my nose was assailed by a smell of burning powder The first sight which met my gaze was a man lying on the floor. — The Daffodil Mystery

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neck · ear · cheek · face · tooth · chin · skin · hair · throat · finger · tail · breast

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Middle English, from Old English nosu; see nas- in Indo-European roots.

Century Dictionary (2)

from Middle English nose, nese, neose, nase, from Anglo-Saxon nosu (in comp. nosu- and nos-), also nasu (in comp. nœs-), the nose, also a point of land, = OFries. nose, nosi, nos = Dutch neus = Middle Low German nese, nase, nose, Low German näse = Old High German nasa, Middle High German G. nase = Icelandic nös = Swedish näsa = Danish nœse, nose, = Latin nāsus (later Italian naso = Provencal nas, naz = French nez); cf. nares (later Spanish Portuguese nariz), nostrils; = Old Bulgarian nosŭ = Servian Bohemian Polish nos = Russian nosŭ = Lithuanian nosis = Old Prussian nozy = Sanskrit nāsā, nasā, nas, nose; root unknown. The Greek word is different: ῤίς (ῤιν-), nose. Cf. ness, naze. Hence nozle, nozzle, nuzzle.
from nose, n.

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