Idioms

nose

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a nose for (something)

An intuitive ability to detect or excel at something. I've always been able to learn languages easily. I guess I just have a nose for it. He's got a real nose for determining which way the stock markets are going to shift. Cecilia has always had a nose for business, so I think she would make a fine addition to the team.
See also: for, nose

nose out

1. To move forward very slowly and cautiously out of some place. Used especially when one is driving a vehicle. It's hard to see oncoming traffic from this side street. Just nose out onto the road until you're sure that it's clear. I nosed out of the house to get away from the party without anyone noticing. She nosed the motorcycle quietly out of the shed so as not to wake her parents.
2. To drive a vehicle very slowly and cautiously out of some place. A noun or pronoun can be used between "nose" and "out." I think you'll have enough room to get out of the parking spot—just nose the car out a little bit at a time to be sure. She nosed the motorcycle quietly out of the shed so as not to wake her parents.
3. To defeat someone by a narrow margin, thus knocking them out of the competition or contest. A noun or pronoun can be used between "nose" and "out." The underdogs managed to nose out the former champions in a thrilling last-minute victory. After a late surge in the polls, Mayor Smith nosed out the Michigan senator many assumed would be the party's nominee.
4. To locate something through the use of one's nose. A noun or pronoun can be used between "nose" and "out." The dog was able to nose out the stash of drugs. The suspect may be in hiding, but these bloodhounds will nose him out.
5. To discover something that had been hidden through careful and thorough investigation. A noun or pronoun can be used between "nose" and "out." If anyone will be able to nose out the truth, she will. Scientists believe they have nosed out the genes responsible for giving one's face its particular shape.
See also: nose, out
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

nose something (out) (onto something)

to drive or push something carefully out onto the surface of something, nose first. I nosed the car out onto the highway, looking both ways. She nosed out the car.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

nose

verb
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
See:
References in classic literature
The Long Noses form a peculiar company, under the direct patronage of the god Tingou.
As a last scene, a "human pyramid" had been announced, in which fifty Long Noses were to represent the Car of Juggernaut.
"Push your nose out, can't you, you - you two with the dog!"
We looked then, and saw that the nose of our boat had got fixed under the woodwork of the lock, while the in-coming water was rising all around it, and tilting it up.
I feel faint and giddy-- I had better go out.' He put his handkerchief over his nose and mouth, and crossed the room to the door.
On the north side of the Mohawk, and at about fifty miles from its mouth, is a mountain which, as we have already said, juts, in a nearly perpendicular promontory, into the bed of the river; its inclination is sufficient to admit of its receiving the name of a nose. Without the least intention of alluding to our hero, the early settlers had affixed the name of St.
"Thank you kindly," the Man with a Wart on His Nose replied, pocketing the money; "it is just the same to us as if you joined.
"If your conscience," says the man with the nose, "is indisposed toward foreign idioms ye might, to please yourself, smuggle the letter into the penultimate syllable."
She looked back at him for some time with a heated face, in which there hung a red shadow of anger; then, despite her anxieties, humour broke out of her eyes and the corners of her mouth, and she answered almost grimly: "Well, if you're so keen on my conversation, perhaps you'll answer my question." After a pause she added: "I had the honour to ask you why you thought the man's nose was false."
As soon as they were done, Geppetto felt a sharp kick on the tip of his nose.
This did awake him, for he uttered "Jerry" in a low, crooning voice, and Jerry responded with a touch of his cold damp nose to the other's cheek.
Once, and twice, he sleepily brushed his nose with his paw.
But hardly had the light of day made it possible to see and distinguish things, when the first object that presented itself to the eyes of Sancho Panza was the squire of the Grove's nose, which was so big that it almost overshadowed his whole body.
tung within wons teeth, for no boddi nose what may hapen; and to bee
Just hit him on the nose every time he rushed, and when he got artful and rushed with his head down, why, the thing to do was to stick out your leg.
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