nosy

See also: носы

English

From nose +‎ -y.

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 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.

prying, inquisitive or curious in other’s affairs; tending to snoop or meddle

Arabic: فُضُولِيّ‎ (ar) (fuḍūliyy)
Hijazi Arabic: مَلْقوف‎ (malgūf)
Bulgarian: любопитен (bg) (ljubopiten)
Catalan: dotor (ca), tafaner (ca) m
Cebuano: ukiton, maukit-ukiton
Chinese:
Mandarin: 多管閒事／多管闲事 (zh) (duōguǎnxiánshì)
Cornish: tronek, tron-droghya
Czech: vlezlý, vtíravý
Dutch: nieuwsgierig (nl), curieus (nl)
Esperanto: maldiskreta
Finnish: utelias (fi)
French: fouineur (fr) m, fureteur (fr) m, curieux (fr) m
Galician: entremetido
German: neugierig (de), topfguckerisch (dialectal)
Hungarian: tolakodó (hu), indiszkrét (hu), kotnyeles (hu)
Hutterisch: niesheerich
Icelandic: forvitinn
Italian: ficcanaso (it)
Jamaican Creole: fass
Japanese: おせっかいな (ja) (osekkai na)
Kabuverdianu: atrividu, atrevide
Macedonian: љубо́питен (ljubópiten), љубо́питник m (ljubópitnik)
Maori: mahira, ihu kurī, māhirahira
Norwegian:
Nynorsk: forviten
Persian: فضول‎ (fa) (fozul)
Polish: wścibski (pl)
Portuguese: intrometido (pt), cusco (pt), metediço (pt), coscuvelheiro m, abelhudo (pt) m, cusca (pt) m, bisbilhoteiro m, bilhardeiro m
Russian: любопы́тный (ru) (ljubopýtnyj)
Slovak: vtieravý
Spanish: chismoso (es) m, metiche, metido (es) m, metijón m, metomentodo (es), entremetido (es) m, cotilla (es)
Swedish: nyfiken (sv)
Turkish: meraklı bakkal (informal idiomatic)
Vietnamese: lắm chuyện (vi), nhiều chuyện (vi), đa sự, đa đoan (vi), thọc mạch
Welsh: busneslyd (cy)

having a large nose

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.

nosy (third-person singular simple present nosies, present participle nosying, simple past and past participle nosied)

(informal, with into) To pry into something.
My brother always nosies into my diary.

nosy

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *nusa. Compare Malay nusa.

nosy

nosy m inan