Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, in, or relating to the nose.
  • adjective Linguistics Articulated by lowering the soft palate so that air resonates in the nasal cavities and passes out the nose, as in the pronunciation of the consonants (m), (n), and (ng) or the nasalized vowel of French bon.
  • adjective Characterized by or resembling a resonant sound produced through the nose.
  • noun Linguistics A nasal consonant.
  • noun A nasal part or bone, forming part of the bridge of the nose.
  • noun The nosepiece of a helmet.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to the nose or nostrils; narial; rhinal.
  • Uttered with resonance in the nose, or with admission of the expelled air into the nasal passages, by relaxation or dropping of the palatal veil that shuts them off from the pharynx.
  • In entomology, pertaining to the nasus or clypeus.
  • In ornithology, the depressions upon the bill of a bird in which the external nostrils open. These are usually wellmarked fossæ at or near the base of the bill, on either side of the culmen, naked or filled in with feathers, or arched over by an operculum or nasal scale; their characters are often of zoological importance. See cuts and diagram under bill.
  • frontal, a process of the frontal bone in part supporting the two nasal bones;
  • anterior, a median process of each maxillary bone, together forming one spine which projects at the base of the outer nostrils or anterior nares;
  • posterior, a corresponding median process of the conjoined palate-bones in the floor of the posterior nares, at the root of the uvula. The last two processes are sometimes called prenasal and postnasal. The anterior process has some ethnological significance, being best developed in the higher races of men, and is also one of several datum-points in craniometry.
  • noun A part of a helmet which protects the nose and adjacent parts of the face. It was made in various forms. Also called nose-piece. See also cut-under helmet.
  • noun A sound uttered through or partly through the nose: especially, a nasal mute or stop, as m, n, ng.
  • noun In anatomy, one of the nasal bones.
  • noun In herpetology, a nasal plate or shield.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An elementary sound which is uttered through the nose, or through both the nose and the mouth simultaneously.
  • noun (Med.), Archaic A medicine that operates through the nose; an errhine.
  • noun (Anc. Armor) Part of a helmet projecting to protect the nose; a nose guard.
  • noun (Anat.) One of the nasal bones.
  • noun (Zoöl.) A plate, or scale, on the nose of a fish, etc.
  • adjective (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the nose.
  • adjective (Phon.) Having a quality imparted by means of the nose; and specifically, made by lowering the soft palate, in some cases with closure of the oral passage, the voice thus issuing (wholly or partially) through the nose, as in the consonants m, n, ng (see Guide to Pronunciation, §§ 20, 208); characterized by resonance in the nasal passage
  • adjective (Anat.) two bones of the skull, in front of the frontals.
  • adjective (Anat.) in the skull, the ratio of the transverse breadth of the anterior nasal aperture to the height from the base of the aperture to the nasion, which latter distance is taken as the standard, equal to 100.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective anatomy Of or pertaining to the nose.
  • adjective phonetics Having a quality imparted by means of the nose; and specifically, made by lowering the soft palate, in some cases with closure of the oral passage, the voice thus issuing (wholly or partially) through the nose, as in the consonants m, n, ng; characterized by resonance in the nasal passage; as, a nasal vowel; a nasal utterance.
  • noun An elementary sound which is uttered through the nose, or through both the nose and the mouth simultaneously, such asm and n.
  • noun medicine, archaic A medicine that operates through the nose; an errhine.
  • noun phonetics A nasal vowel or consonant.
  • noun now historical Part of a helmet projecting to protect the nose; a nose guard.
  • noun anatomy One of the nasal bones.
  • noun zoology A plate, or scale, on the nose of a fish, etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an elongated rectangular bone that forms the bridge of the nose
  • adjective sounding as if the nose were pinched
  • adjective of or in or relating to the nose
  • noun a consonant produced through the nose with the mouth closed

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Possibly from Middle English nasale, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from Latin nāsus, nose; see nas- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin nasalis.

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Examples

  • I won't even think of the implication of the word nasal….

    Wake Up, Sir! Jonathan Ames 2004

  • You have the beginning of what we call a nasal-labial crease.

    CNN Transcript Nov 9, 2003 2003

  • The following passage from Kipling’s American Notes, ch. i, will be recalled: “Oliver Wendell Holmes says that the Yankee schoolmarm, the cider and the salt codfish of the Eastern states are responsible for what he calls a nasal accent.

    Chapter 7. The Standard American Pronunciation. 1. General Characters Henry Louis 1921

  • Oliver Wendell Holmes says that the Yankee school-marm, the cider and the salt codfish of the Eastern States, are responsible for what he calls a nasal accent.

    American Notes Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • Oliver Wendell Holmes says that the Yankee school-marm, the cider and the salt codfish of the Eastern States, are responsible for what he calls a nasal accent.

    American Notes 1889

  • The infection has worked its way north of my throat and up into my sinuses (hooray! party in nasal passage two!), and I am completely miserable.

    February 12th, 2005 2005

  • Inhaled medications and nasal sprays except Astelin nasal spray do not contain antihistamines.

    Antihistamine avoidance 2004

  • However, it was a pretty picture the nuthatch made, holding in her bill a large beetle with silvery wings, sometimes holding it straight out from the bark as she glanced around to see whether the coast was clear and at the same time calling her nasal "yank," so full of woodsy suggestion.

    Our Bird Comrades 1896

  • But the terms nasal and throaty are general descriptions of faulty tones.

    The Psychology of Singing A Rational Method of Voice Culture Based on a Scientific Analysis of All Systems, Ancient and Modern 1894

  • One study showed that long-term nasal irrigation helped people feel in control of their sinus symptoms and significantly improved their quality of life.

    WebMD Health 2009

Comments

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  • No witness — a fool. A nasal aria's time emits air. Alas, an aloof assent: I won.

    October 18, 2008