schnozz

Alternative forms

• schnoz

Etymology

Likely from Yiddish שנויץ‎ (shnoyts), in turn from German Schnauze (“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.

Noun

schnozz (plural schnozzes)

1. (slang) nose
   • 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.