schnozz

English

Alternative forms

• schnoz, shnoz, shnozz

Etymology

Likely from Yiddish שנויץ (shnoyts), cognate to German Schnauze (“snout”) and English snout. Compare schnozzle. A less common theory suggests a variant of nose influenced by schm-, or by general association with Yiddish words. Attested since at least 1940.

Pronunciation

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Noun

schnozz (plural schnozzes)

1. (slang) Nose.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nose

   • 1969, Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint‎^[1], New York: Vintage, published 1994, pages 149–150:

     […] you have got J-E-W written right across the middle of that face—look at the shnoz on him, for God’s sakes!

   • 1993 March 5, Adam Langer, “Sex Lives of Superheroes/Subfertile”, in The Chicago Reader‎^[2]:

     There's a TV commercial out now for a nasal spray in which a man in need of a decongestant wakes up to find that his entire head has turned into a giant schnozz.

   • 1998 June 26, Cecil Adams, “The Straight Dope”, in The Chicago Reader‎^[3]:

     One presumes the anesthetic is for the bull, although if I were about to pound a nail through some bull's schnozz I might want some anesthetic myself.

   • 1999 November 5, Carl Zimmer, “Society of Vertebrate Paleontology: The Stories Behind the Bones”, in Science‎^[4], volume 286, number 5442, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 1071–1074:

     In another talk, a DinoNose collaborator, Scott Sampson of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, pointed out a number of ridges in the ceratopsian schnozz that probably supported curtains of cartilage; these in turn may have served as scaffolding for layers upon layers of mucous membranes.