/ nəʊz; NAmE noʊz/ noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C ] the part of the face that sticks out above the mouth, used for breathing and smelling things :
He broke his nose in the fight.
She wrinkled her nose in disgust.
He blew his nose (= cleared it by blowing strongly into a handkerchief ) .
a blocked / runny nose
Stop picking your nose ! (= removing dirt from it with your finger)
—see also nasal , parson's nose , Roman nose —picture at face
2.
-nosed (in adjectives) having the type of nose mentioned :
red-nosed
large-nosed
—see also hard-nosed , toffee-nosed
3.
[ C ] the front part of a plane, spacecraft , etc.
—picture at plane
4.
[ sing. ] a ~ for sth a special ability for finding or recognizing sth
SYN instinct :
As a journalist, she has always had a nose for a good story.
5.
[ sing. ] a sense of smell :
a dog with a good nose
6.
[ sing. ] ( of wine ) a characteristic smell
SYN bouquet
•
IDIOMS
- cut off your nose to spite your face
- get up sb's nose
- have your nose in sth
- have a nose round
- keep your nose clean
- keep your nose out of sth
- keep your nose to the grindstone
- look down your nose at sb/sth
- nose to tail
- on the nose
- poke / stick your nose into sth
- put sb's nose out of joint
- turn your nose up at sth
- under sb's nose
- with your nose in the air
—more at follow , lead (I) verb , pay verb , plain adjective , powder verb , rub verb , skin noun , thumb verb
■ verb
1.
[+ adv. / prep. ] to move forward slowly and carefully :
[ v ]
The plane nosed down through the thick clouds.
[ vn ]
The taxi nosed its way back into the traffic.
2.
[ v + adv. / prep. ] ( of an animal ) to search for sth or push sth with its nose :
Dogs nosed around in piles of refuse.
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- nose about / around (for sth)
- nose sth out
••
WORD ORIGIN
Old English nosu , of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch neus , and more remotely to German Nase , Latin nasus , and Sanskrit nāsā .