schnozz

schnozz

English

Alternative forms

• schnoz
• shnoz

Etymology

Likely from Yiddish שנויץ‎ (shnoyts), cognate to German Schnauze (“snout”) and English snout.[1][2] Compare schnozzle. A less common theory suggests a variant of nose influenced by schm-, or by general association with Yiddish words.[3] 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, New York: Vintage, 1994, pp. 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, Langer, Adam, “Sex Lives of Superheroes/Subfertile”, in The Chicago Reader‎:

     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, Adams, Cecil, “The Straight Dope”, in The Chicago Reader‎:

     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, Zimmer, Carl, “Society of Vertebrate Paleontology: The Stories Behind the Bones”, in Science‎, volume 286, number 5442, DOI:10.1126/science.286.5442.1071, ISSN 0036-8075, 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.

References

1. “schnozz, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1982.
2. Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “schnozz”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
3. “schnoz”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged.‎, Random House, Inc., accessed March 30, 2018