131nose
cut off your nose to spite your face
If you say that someone is cutting off their nose to spite their face, you mean they are doing something in order to hurt another person, without realizing or caring that they will hurt themselves just as much or even more.
It is clear that while the manager would not be prepared to cut off his nose to spite his face by leaving out the centre-half, reputation on the field is at an all-time he is concerned that who missed the last should realise the error of his ways.
follow your nose1
If you follow your nose, you make decisions and behave in a particular way because you feel instinctively that this is what you should do, rather than because you are following any guidelines or rules.
I'd started a bit of journalism, so I had a source of and I had what I might call opportunities for a sporting . And I've just followed my nose doing that ever since.
There was a feeling that people in the institutes just following their noses and not doing anything that was relevant.
follow your nose2
If someone tells you to follow your nose when you are looking for a place, they are telling you to go straight ahead, or to follow the most obvious route.
More or less follow your nose till you come to Marks and Spencer's. Bear right there. And it's there.
get up someone's nose
If you say that something or someone gets up your nose, you mean that they irritate you a great deal. This is an informal expression, which is used mainly in British English.
Imagine my surprise when I contacted the dealers our return and was told `Sorry, it will arrive February 10.' What really gets up my nose is that all I want is a standard white car.
This producer is Richard West, son of Gladys Young (BBC Rep.) and looks as if he's going to get up everybody's nose. He has only been here for a few hours and has been babbling about `discipline' to Annie.
give someone a bloody nose1
get a bloody nose
bloody someone's nose
In a contest or competition, if one side is given a bloody nose, it is defeated in a way that does not cause permanent damage but makes it look foolish or inferior. You can also say that it gets, receives, or has a bloody nose. These expressions are mostly used in written English.
Most are so fed up with this current attack on the elderly they are threatening to give the Government more than a bloody nose in the forthcoming by-election.
You can also say that one side in a contest bloodies the nose of the other side.
A full-scale ambush is almost certainly beyond Welsh But they'll be looking for a few opportunities to bloody English noses, the of .
give someone a bloody nose2
get a bloody nose
In a war or conflict, if one side is given a bloody nose, it is damaged sufficiently to cause it to withdraw, at least for a time. You can also say that one side gets, receives, or has a bloody nose. These expressions are used mainly in written English.
Giving the army a bloody nose is one thing. Taking on its full might is another.
You can also say that one side in a conflict bloodies the nose of the other side.
never forgave the for bloodying the nose of the army he sent a border war them in 1979.
keep your nose clean
If you keep your nose clean, you behave well and avoid trouble.
Most of them have done nothing brave or remarkable. They have merely done their jobs properly, kept their noses clean and have already been amply rewarded by hefty salaries.
The best advice I can give is tell you to keep your nose clean.
keep your nose out of something
If someone tells you to keep your nose out of something, they are telling you rather rudely not to interfere in it, because it does not concern you. Compare poke your nose into something.
Nancy realized that letting her step on the was his way of telling her to keep her nose out of his business.
The led perhaps by Bill Weld, the governor of will try to argue Mr Weld did to some effect at the Houston that government should keep its hand out of Americans' wallets and its nose out of their bedrooms.
keep your nose to the grindstone
If you keep your nose to the grindstone, you concentrate on working hard at your job, and do not concern yourself with other things.
There is more to life than keeping one's nose to the grindstone and saving for a rainy day.
told the accountants to get back to the grindstone and try to figure out a way to show a profit.
lead someone by the nose
If someone leads you by the nose or leads you around by the nose, they control you completely so that you do whatever they want. This expression is often used to suggest that the person being led is foolish or wrong to let this happen.
The Government has let itself be led by the nose by the timber trade into suppressing the report for the narrow commercial advantage of those involved.
look down your nose at something
If you say that someone looks down their nose at a thing or person, you mean that they regard that thing or person as inferior and treat them with scorn or disrespect. You use this expression to show disapproval of this attitude.
If anyone leaves my shop feeling taste was not good enough, or that we'd looked down our noses at them for not buying expensive cheese, I would be very ashamed.
The minister and his intellectual friends still look down their noses at Disneyland and the American soap operas such as Santa Barbara.
a nose for something
If you say that someone has a nose for something, you mean that they have a natural talent for finding it.
He had a nose for trouble and a brilliant tactical mind.
Harry runs his own news agency in the assisted by photographer Snappy (Ian Bartholomew) and writer Jonathan (Tom Hollander), a well-trained nose for a story.
How does he rate a good record over an indifferent one? `You just feel it, somehow, if it's good,' he says. `You develop a nose for it.'
not see beyond your nose
not see beyond the end of your nose
If you say that someone can't see beyond their nose, or can't see beyond the end of their nose, you are criticizing them for thinking only about themselves and their immediate needs, rather than about other people or wider and longer-term issues. You can replace `beyond' with `further than', and `see' with other verbs.
We want our people to be able to see beyond their own noses and to keep things in perspective. We want them to understand that what is best for the whole organization might not be best for their own part in it.
It is high time that British industry started thinking beyond the end of its nose. The trouble is that what companies perceive to be in their own interest is not necessarily what the country needs.
on the nose1
If you talk about a time or amount being on the nose, you mean that it is exactly that time or amount.
This is One FM. Precisely on the nose seven sixteen.
on the nose2
If you describe someone or something as on the nose, you mean that they are considered to be unpleasant or offensive. This expression is used mainly in Australian English.
North West Airlines might be on the nose here and in Japan but it's definitely flavour of the month in the United States.
His comments are really on the nose.
pay through the nose for something
If you pay through the nose for something, you pay more for it than you consider fair or reasonable. This is a fairly informal expression.
Some laudable have cottoned on to the fact that we do not like paying through the nose for our wines when eating out.
It looks as though owners and those taking out new insurance policies on their houses, cars, boats and planes will be paying through the nose.
poke your nose into something
stick your nose into something
If you say that someone is poking their nose into something or sticking their nose into it, you mean that they are interfering in something that does not concern them. Compare keep your nose out of something.
We don't like foreigners who poke their noses into our affairs.
Newspapers are full of snide remarks about the European Commission's bureaucrats sticking their noses into every nook and cranny of our private lives.
If anyone should be apologizing, it should be me for poking my nose in where it doesn't belong.
put someone's nose out of joint
If something puts someone's nose out of joint, it offends or upsets them, because they think that they have not been treated with the respect that they deserve. You often use this expression to suggest that the person who is offended thinks that they are more important than they really are.
Gillian's sons, 17 and 15, were resentful of the female invasion. Barry, the youngest, had his nose put out of joint by Lucy's aloof sophistication, although she was his junior.
You can also say that someone's nose is out of joint or that someone has their nose out of joint.
The old kind has tried and failed miserably and there are some old kinds of Democrats around Washington who have their noses a little out of joint about that.
rub someone's nose in it
rub someone's nose in the dirt
If you rub someone's nose in it or rub their nose in the dirt, you embarrass or upset them by reminding them of something that they do not want to think about, such as a failure or a mistake that they have made.
You obviously delight in the defeat of a fellow performer! And proceed to rub his nose in it, don't you?
If he agrees to withdraw , should there be some other arrangement which would be a let-out rather than rubbing his nose in the dirt?
You can also say that someone's nose is rubbed in a particular thing.
America should have basked in triumph after the fall of communism, but instead found its nose rubbed in inadequacies at home.
thumb your nose at someone
If you thumb your nose at someone or something powerful or influential, you behave in a way that shows disrespect or contempt for them.
There is a hard-core of young persistent offenders, and too many of them are simply laughing at authority and thumbing their noses the court.
Workers are laid off while bosses are given enormous pay increases and vast bonuses, thus thumbing their noses at both employees and consumers.
You can describe this behaviour as nose-thumbing.
These women's lives, as portrayed by Hollywood, were a nose-thumbing at stuffy Victorian England.
turn up your nose at something
If you say that someone turns up their nose at something, you mean that they reject it because they think that it is not good enough for them. You use this expression to show disapproval of the person's behaviour, because you think that they are being foolish or too proud.
Even in the United States top-flight university graduates turned up their noses at business jobs and tried instead to get into government service or university teaching.
You should never turn your nose up at inexpensive plants.
He acted in about 30 as a struggling young actor, happily taking them on while his former classmates at the Yale drama school turned up their noses and waited on tables instead.
under your nose
from under your nose
If something, especially a bad thing, happens under your nose, it happens in your presence or very near to you, and you do not or cannot do anything to stop it.
The destruction of cities and millions of lives right under our noses is greeted with shrugs.
I really don't care what people do, as long as it's not under my nose.
If someone takes something from under your nose, they do not try to hide the fact that they are taking it, and you either do not notice or cannot stop them.
Two prisoners handcuffed together in the back of a police car stole it from under the noses of two red-faced traffic officers.
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