Definition of "nose"

nose

noun
plural noses
1. A protuberance on the face housing the nostrils, which are used to breathe or smell.
  Quotations
  The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue. […] .
  1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess‎
2. A snout, the nose of an animal.
3. The tip of an object.
  Quotations
  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.
  1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp.; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927,
  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.
  1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 1
4. The bulge on the side of a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, that fits into the hole of its adjacent piece.
5. (horse racing) The length of a horse’s nose, used to indicate the distance between horses at the finish of a race, or any very close race.
6. A perfumer.
7. The power of smelling.
  Quotations
  We are not offended with […] a dog for a better nose than his master.
  c. 1700, Jeremy Collier, Of Envy
8. Bouquet, the smell of something, especially wine.
9. The skill in recognising bouquet.
10. (by extension) Skill at finding information.
11. (architecture) A downward projection from a cornice.
12. (slang) An informer.
  Quotations
  […] M was a Magsman, frequenting Pall-Mall; / N was a Nose that turned chirp on his pal; […]
  1846, George William MacArthur Reynolds, The Mysteries of London, page 60
verb
third-person singular simple present noses, present participle nosing, simple past and past participle nosed
1. (intransitive) To move cautiously by advancing its front end.
2. (intransitive) To snoop.
3. (transitive) To detect by smell or as if by smell.
  Quotations
  […] if you finde him not this moneth, you ſhall noſe him as you go vp the ſtaires into the Lobby.
  c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii], page 273
  Dogs hurried out to nose Edmund[.]
  1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, page 18
  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.
  2002 October 20, Bob Morris, “Connoisseurship Runneth Over”, in The New York Times‎
4. (transitive) To push with one's nose; to nuzzle.
  Quotations
  [L]ambs are glad / Nosing the mother's udder, and the bird / Makes his heart voice among the blaze of flowers: […]
  1868, Alfred Tennyson, “Lucretius”, in The Holy Grail and Other Poems, London: Strahan and Co., […], published 1870, page 211
5. (transitive) To defeat (as in a race or other contest) by a narrow margin; sometimes with out.
6. (transitive) To utter in a nasal manner; to pronounce with a nasal twang.
  Quotations
  It makes far better musick when you nose Sternold's, or Wisdom's meeter.
  c. 1635, William Cartwright, The Ordinary
7. (transitive) To furnish with a nose.
8. (transitive) To confront; be closely face to face or opposite to.

Definition of "nose"

nose

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