Expressions with the word "nose"

There are many expressions in English that, like in Spanish, include a part of the body. On this occasion, we will refer to the word "nose".

There are different types of noses: big, small, long, straight, turned-up, aquiline/hooked or snub noses.

We also do actions related to this organ: We blow our noses, children pick their noses, we hold our noses. When we have a cold, we have a blocked nose/our nose is blocked, we have a runny nose, and sometimes our noses bleed.

Let's have a look at some expressions containing the word "nose".

1. To stick or pose your nose into something. To become involved in something that doesn't concern us.
You shouldn't have sticked your nose into my affairs.

2. To keep your nose clean. To make sure you don't get into trouble, or do something illegal.
keep your nose clean or you'll end up in jail again.

3. To follow your nose. To go straight ahead. It also means to act in a certain way because you feel it inside of you.
Turn right at the corner and then follow your nose. The bank is on the right.

4. It's no skin off my nose. You say that when you don't care what other people say or do, because it doesn't affect you.
It's no skin off my nose if he doesn't want to come to my party.

5. Right under your nose. Right in front of you or very close to you, but overlooked.
I've been looking for my earrings for hours and they were just right under my nose.

6. To rub your nose in something. To remind someone about something unpleasant they've done.
Every time I make a mistake, she rubs my nose in it.

7. Count noses. To count the people in a group...
Let's count noses so we can book the tickets.

8. Get up your nose. To annoy or irritate...
Your constant moaning really gets up my nose.

9. To pay through the nose. To pay a lot of money, especially more than is reasonable.
The restaurant was good, but we had to pay through the nose for the food.

10. Nose to tail. It is used to express that traffic is dense and cars are close to each other.
It's taken me one hour to get to work. The cars were nose to tail on the motorway.

You now have more vocabulary to improve your level of English. If you know other expressions with the word "nose", you can put them in the comments.

If you want to know expressions with other parts of the body, read our articles about the words head, foot and eye.