nose

Less common meanings

6. 6
   verbidiomatictransitive or intransitive

   To pry or snoop into matters that don't concern one.

   Reporters nosed around the abandoned warehouse looking for clues.

   She tends to nose into conversations that have nothing to do with her.

   UsageUsually nose around, nose about or nose into something: nosing around other people's business.

   Similarpry, snoop, poke, meddle

7. 7
   verbintransitive

   Of a vehicle or vessel, to move forward slowly or carefully, front first, in a particular direction.

   The ship nosed slowly through the fog-bound harbor.

   Tanks nose carefully along the cratered road, wary of mines.

   UsageA direction follows: nosed through the fog, nosed into the harbor.

   Similaredge, inch, creep, ease, crawl

8. 8
   just beatverbtransitive

   To defeat a rival by a very narrow margin, frequently together with the particle out.

   The favorite nosed out the underdog by half a length.

   On the final lap, the young driver managed to nose out last year's winner by a fraction of a second.

   UsageUsually nose out: she nosed out the champion by a second.

   Similaredge, pip, beat

9. 9
   distance (horse race)nouncountable

   A winning margin equal to the length of a horse's nose, marking the closest finish in a race.

   The colt edged ahead to win by a nose in a photo finish.

   She lost the championship race by a nose after leading the whole way.

   UsageMostly win by a nose or lose by a nose.

   Similarwhisker, hair

   Note

   Here the horse's own body becomes the yardstick. This is the smallest official winning margin, recorded when one runner is fractionally ahead at the post. Away from the track it describes any very close contest, and the verb "nose out" turns the margin into an action. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • The margin refers to the horse’s nose. britishhorseracing.com
   • A nose is the smallest official winning margin, indicating a very close finish. thejockeyclub.co.uk
10. 10
    sniff outverbtransitive

    To detect or perceive something by smell, or as though by smell.

    At the airport, trained dogs nose out fruit and meat that travelers forget to declare.

    Within a week, the young reporter had nosed out the real reason the mayor resigned.

    UsageUsually nose out: dogs nose out drugs, a reporter noses out the truth.

    Similarsmell, scent, detect, sense

    Note

    An old verb with a grim early use. Shakespeare's Hamlet warns that "you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby." Today it also has a precise life among spirits tasters, who nose a glass before tasting it. Bob Morris, writing in The New York Times in 2002, says that to nose and taste properly you should add still water first. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The verb has an early, grim use in Shakespeare’s Hamlet: Hamlet speaks the quoted words about the dead Polonius. gutenberg.org
    • Bob Morris wrote in The New York Times in 2002 that proper nosing and tasting requires adding still water first. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    dive downverbintransitive

    To plunge downward at a steep angle, nose first.

    The fighter nosed into a steep dive to evade the missile.

    The small plane stalled over the hills and began to nose sharply toward the valley floor.

    UsageOften nose down or nose into a dive; the noun is nosedive.

    Similardive, plunge, plummet, drop

    Oppositeclimb, rise, soar

    Note

    Aviation's bare verb for a nosedive. The aircraft does not simply fall: it pitches its forward end steeply down and follows it. Business borrows the image for prices and fortunes that suddenly plunge. Keep it apart from the cautious-advance sense, where the front edges forward slowly and under control.

12. 12
    nudgeverbtransitive

    To push or nuzzle something with the nose.

    The horse nosed the latch open and escaped its stall.

    Seals nose the ice as they search for breathing holes.

    Similarnuzzle, nudge, push

    Note

    Mostly an animal's gesture, and often a tender one. Tennyson's "Lucretius" (1868) has lambs "nosing the mother's udder." Unlike detecting by smell, the nose here touches and pushes rather than sniffs. A horse noses a latch and a calf noses its mother, and in each case the nose is used like a hand. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Alfred Tennyson wrote the poem "Lucretius". dvpp.uvic.ca
    • "Lucretius" was first published in 1868. en.wikisource.org
    • The poem describes lambs "nosing the mother's udder." dvpp.uvic.ca
13. 13
    nounidiomaticcountable

    An act of snooping or prying; a look around to find things out.

    He couldn't resist a nose through his coworker's desk drawers.

    A quick nose around the shed turned up the keys we had lost.

    UsageUsually have a nose around or about: like have a look, but nosier.

    Similarsnoop, look, rummage, poke

14. 14
    perfume makernouncountable

    A skilled expert who designs and composes perfumes.

    The house hired a celebrated nose to develop its signature fragrance.

    As a nose, he could blend hundreds of essences from memory.

    Similarperfumer

    Note

    Perfumery names its composers after the organ they work with. Jacques Polge, Chanel's top "nose" from 1978, shows the usual shape: the word behaves like a job title, taking a possessive (Chanel's nose, the house's nose). Outside the trade it is sometimes set in quotation marks to flag the jargon. The word names the person who has the trained skill of judging scent, not the skill itself. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • Jacques Polge became Chanel's head perfumer in 1978. chanel.com
15. 15
    puzzle tabnouncountable

    The rounded bulge on a jigsaw piece that fits into the matching hole of the adjacent piece.

    He gently worked the nose of the corner piece into its neighbor.

    Most jigsaw pieces have at least one nose that locks into a matching hole on a neighboring piece.

    Similartab, knob

16. 16
    fit a front pieceverbtransitive

    To furnish or fit something with a nose or nose-shaped front part.

    Before installing the stairs, the carpenter nosed each tread with a rounded strip of hardwood.

    On deck stairs, builders often nose each tread with rubber edging to keep people from slipping.

    Note

    A builder's verb at heart: to nose a stair tread is to finish its front edge, the part a foot meets first, so that it projects like a nose. It is a making verb. Where the tip of an object names a front that already exists, this sense describes adding one. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • To nose a stair tread means to furnish it with a nose. en.wiktionary.org
    • The nosing is the tread's leading edge and can project beyond the riser. stairways.org
17. 17
    nounslang

    A person who secretly gives information about criminals to the police.
18. 18
    verbobsolete

    To pronounce words with a nasal tone or twang.

    It makes far better musick when you nose Sternold's, or Wisdom's meeter.

    c. 1635, William Cartwright, The Ordinary
19. 19
    verbrare

    To stand directly facing something or someone; to confront face to face.
20. 20
    nounrare

    On a building, a molded element that projects downward from a cornice.