Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Eyeglasses clipped to the bridge of the nose.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Eyeglasses kept in place on the nose by a spring.
Wiktionary
- n. temple-less eyeglasses that clip to the bridge of the nose
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Eyeglasses kept on the nose by a spring.
WordNet 3.0
- n. spectacles clipped to the nose by a spring
Etymologies
- French pince-nez ‘pinch-nose’. (Wiktionary)
- French : pincer, to pinch (from Old French pincier; see pinch) + nez, nose (from Latin nāsus; see nas- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“My book, in one of life's coincidences, will be presented in Madrid this coming May 21, the birthday of the poet with the round pince-nez and the aquiline nose.”
“Viggo was clearly unsettled by such close contact with Freud's personal artefacts, and affected some shivers of recognition as he pored over Freud's notebook which sits on his desk, a pair of fold-up pince-nez placed neatly beside it.”
““Yes, what of them,” he asked, his kind eyes twinkling behind pince-nez glasses.”
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““Five Points,” said Dobrogeanu, squinting through his pince-nez.”
“Or maybe a small pince-nez or somethin 'like that?”
“Now he was clearly visible: the feathery moustache, one lens of the pince-nez gleaming, the other not there.”
“Looking grimly at the world through his pince-nez, he saw “incredible frivolity and selfishness” everywhere, except when he found himself “in a dark and sombre wood.””
“His long, dour face and prim pince-nez spectacles gave him a look of impenetrable rectitude, and the high starched collars and stovepipe hat in which he was frequently photographed suggested Edwardian formality.”
“She peered over the steel rims of her pince-nez and, observing the wedding band, said, “Well then, Mrs.?””
“He wore a long gray beard, a fez, and pince-nez glasses, and gave her a slightly puzzled smile as she approached.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pince-nez’.
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[Open] “What’s that on your head?”
Headgear: “anything worn on the head” (that isn’t part of the head). Hats are fine, but for a more detailed, wider selection of fashionable hats in all colors and sizes, please see Reese Tee’s li...
goggles, wig, headdress, cap, hackamore, halter, bridle, beanie, turban, hat, crown, chapeau and 126 more...
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The Nose Knows
Being Nosy.
nosethril, nostril, nebby, nasal, rhinoplasty, pug, button, Roman, turned-up, Pinocchio, Cyrano de Bergerac, Gonzo and 54 more...
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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The Collection
A somewhat discriminatory list of words and phrases collected for their euphonic or arcane appeal, interesting etymology, or concise definition of an otherwise unnamed phenomenon or concept.
ziggurat, neophilia, sucker punch, soporific, epoch, tundra, fiat, idiotproof, miscellany, metaphysics, cryptozoology, dysphoria and 856 more...
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Theophilus North
Words from the novel by Thornton Wilder.
Theophilus, bicycle, Newport, cully, Persis, Hard-hearted Hannah, lazaret, jalopy, Gulliver, tennis, typewrite, breathings and 290 more...
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sionnach's Words
contumely, fomite, holmgang, poltroon, eleemosynary, obsidian, nugatory, grindcore, felch, recrudescent, pyx, parenteral and 3271 more...
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Number 9 Dream
By David Mitchell
slag-heap, coracle, unsilt, aquiline, crispen, treatise, hippocampus, fortuitous, megalomania, malinger, dreck, escarpment and 97 more...
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norrell's Words
hush, dove, euphoria, nebulae, bryn mawr, darling, phoenix, nape, cream, butterscotch, cosmos, frost and 190 more...
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Kaichi's Wordie Darlings, or I'm a Lo...
persnickety, discombobulated, braggadoccio, anthropomorphous, antelucan, confluxible, anomalous, poseur, gallivant, poppycock, falderal, gewgaw and 705 more...
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Words/Phrases that have crossed my path
palanquin, rhapsodical, cacology, sylvan, veranda, lithe, spittoon, aptronym, retronym, purloin, blithe, diaeresis and 134 more...
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Hana's Vocab
ipseism, jape, raphe, mullions and tran..., Olbers' Paradox, Euclidian torus, relativity of sim..., Cerenkov radiation, tachyon, superluminal, hapax legomenon, damascene and 314 more...
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sartorial splendor
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
-Mark Twainapplique, ascot, brogue, dressing gown, frippery, gusset, grommet, placket, silhouette, whipstitch, appliqué, baste and 59 more...
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At Swim-Two-Birds
ineluctable, pellucid, brooklime, concerned-that-he..., inanition, benison, pooka, colloquy, anadiplosis, trick-o'-the-loop, sun-trellised, sorrel and 14 more...
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French
bon vivant, carte blanche, chef-d’oeuvre, c’est la vie, de rigueur, joie de vivre, raison d'être, precis, pince-nez, faux pas, nouveau pauvre, pas de deux and 2 more...
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old-timey goodness
fusty, hoary, old-fashioned, archaic
antediluvian, merkin, soused, welkin, relict, forthwith, carouse, mollycoddle, trefoil, revenant, saltire, nonesuch and 60 more...
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kafkaesque's Words
kafkaesque, twee, internets, vainglorious, tautology, foodie, fop, prelapsarian, tobacconist, druthers, epiphenomenon, rapport and 57 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for pince-nez.

kewpid They really pinch the nose. Oct 4, 2007