nose

1 noun

1 ON YOUR FACE (C) the part of your face that you smell with and breathe through: a broken nose | Marty punched him on the nose. | blow your nose (=clear it by blowing strongly into a piece of cloth or soft paper): Here, take this hanky and blow your nose.

2 red-nosed/long-nosed etc having a nose that is red, long etc

3 (right) under sb's nose so close to someone that they ought to notice, but they do not: The drugs were smuggled in right under the noses of security guards.

4 stick/poke your nose into to show too much interest in private matters that do not concern you: She always has to stick her nose into everything, doesn't she?

—see also: nosy

5 keep your nose out (of) spoken to stop showing too much interest in private matters that do not concern you: I'd prefer you to keep your nose right out of my business!

6 turn your nose up (at) informal to refuse to accept something because you do not think it is good enough for you: My children turn their noses up at home cooking.

7 look down your nose at informal to behave as if you think someone or something is not good enough for you: The Taggarts have always looked down their noses at their neighbours.

8 with your nose in the air behaving as if you are more important than other people and not talking to them: Maria flounced past with her nose in the air.

9 have a nose round BrE spoken to look around a place or to look for something: Let's have a nose round while there's no one here.

10 have a (good) nose (for)

a) to be naturally good at finding and recognizing something

(+ for): a reporter with a nose for a story

b) to be good at recognizing smells: a dog with a good nose

11 get up sb's nose BrE spoken to annoy someone very much: His manner really gets up my nose.

12 follow your nose to keep going straight ahead: Turn left at the post office and then just follow your nose.

13 keep your nose clean spoken to make sure you do not get into trouble, or do anything wrong or illegal

14 on the nose AmE spoken exactly: Guess how much I paid. That's right; $50 on the nose!

15 keep your nose to the grindstone informal to work very hard, without stopping to rest

16 have your nose in a book to be giving all your attention to what you are reading

17 by a nose if a horse wins a race by a nose, it only just wins

18 put sb's nose out of joint informal to annoy someone, especially by attracting everyone's attention away from them

19 nose to tail especially BrE cars, buses etc that are nose to tail are moving very slowly without much space between them: Traffic was nose to tail for three miles.

20 PLANE (C) the pointed front end of a plane, rocket etc

—see also: hard­nosed, brown­nose, cut off your nose to spite your face cut 1 (8), nose job, pay through the nose pay 1 (13), powder your nose powder 2 (3), thumb your nose at thumb 2 (2) 2 verb

1 (intransitive always + adv/prep) informal to try to find out things about other people in a way that is annoying: nose about BrE

/around/into: The landlady was nosing around the house while we were out. | Stop nosing into my affairs!

2 (intransitive always + adv/prep, transitive always + adv/prep) if a vehicle, boat etc noses forward, or if you nose it forward, it moves forward slowly

(+ out/through etc): The boat nosed out into Nantucket Sound. | nose sth out/through etc: She carefully nosed the car forward through the traffic. nose sth out phrasal verb (T) informal to discover information by searching carefully for a long time: The reporters have nosed out some interesting facts about the politician's past life.