nosy
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