nosy
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See also: носы
English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]nosy (comparative nosier or more nosy, superlative nosiest or most nosy)
- Prying, inquisitive or curious in other’s affairs; tending to snoop or meddle.
- They built tall fences, yet the nosy neighbors always seemed to know everything about them.
- Having a large or elongated nose.
- 1962, Paul Engle, Golden Child, page 25:
- "Look at you, a handsome man of thirty, with thick brown hair and a nosy nose and enormous feet and hands that can drive a team of horses or a yoke of oxen or," she hesitated in a brief shyness, and then went on, "a loving wife."
- 1971, William Cooper, You want the right frame of reference, page 22:
- She had the same sort of handsome, square-cut features as Timothy, with the difference that her nose was small and short — it was obvious that Timothy got his thick dark hair, his brown eyes and his nosy nose from his father, that vigorous impresario who had died suddenly of a heart-attack, his first, two years before the War began.
- 1982, Art Journal - Volumes 42-43, page 322:
- The problem is particularly acute in caricature when a variety of divergent features is forced into a precarious union, when a "nosy" nose is trying to get along with a hesitant mouth and vigilant eyebrows.
- 2005, R. G. Crouch, The Coat: The Origin and Times of Doggett's Famous Wager, page 99:
- Nosy in his looks by the large hooked proboscis, which dominated his face, as well as by character, Ebenezer wanted, perhaps even needed, to know everyone's business.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]prying, inquisitive or curious in other’s affairs; tending to snoop or meddle
having a large nose
Noun
[edit]nosy (plural nosies)
- (UK, slang) A look at something to satisfy one's curiosity.
- I might wander down to the construction site for a nosy at what they're building.
- (childish, rare) A nose.
- Alternative form: nosie
- 1890, Laura E[lizabeth] Richards, “Rosy Posy”, in In My Nursery, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, page 174:
- There was a little Rosy, / And she had a little nosy; / And she made a little posy, / All pink and white and green. / And she said, “Little nosy, / Will you smell my little posy? / For of all the flowers that growsy, / Such sweet ones ne’er were seen.” / So she took the little posy, / And she put it to her nosy, / On her little face so rosy, / The flowers for to smell; […]
- 2004 December 19, Mandel Comanda, “[What the holidays mean to me] It’s for family and friends”, in Sunday Courier News, page 140, column 3:
- It’s this time of year when you’re warm and cozy and white snowflakes fall on your little nosy.
- 2011, Miljenko Jergović, chapter IV, in Stephen M. Dickey, transl., Ruta Tannenbaum, Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, →ISBN, page 25:
- Who’s my little mouse? Whose little nosy is this? Who has the biggest eyesies in Agramstadt?
- 2013, Jacqueline Wilson, Queenie, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 133:
- She pretended to pull off his nose and then held her fist in front of Michael’s face, her thumb peeping out between her fingers. ‘There – I’ve got your nose now!’ […] She pressed her thumb onto his little face. ‘Here’s your little nosy, back safe and sound between your rosy cheeks,’ she said.
Verb
[edit]nosy (third-person singular simple present nosies, present participle nosying, simple past and past participle nosied)
Anagrams
[edit]Czech
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]nosy
Malagasy
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nusa. Compare Malay nusa.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Noun
[edit]nosy
- island (area of land completely surrounded by water)
Polish
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]nosy m inan
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- Rhymes:Polish/ɔsɨ
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