▪ I. nese, n. Now only Sc.
Forms: α. 2–4 neose. β. 3–5 nese; 3, 6 nease, 4 neise, neyse, neies, 4–5 nes, 5 nees(e, nece; Sc. 5 neys, 6, 9 neis, 8 neese, 8–9 niz, 9 nizz, nis(e.
[Early ME. neose, nese, perh. = MDu. and MLG. nese (hence Da. næse, Sw. näsa): the relationship to nase and nose is obscure.]
The nose.
| α c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 127 Ure neose and ure muð and ure earan. c 1205 Lay. 22845 Þa wifmen þa ȝe maȝen ifinden..kerueð of hir neose. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. ix. 34 Hire neose ys set as hit wel semeth. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 19/18 To ofte ichaue..With neose i-smullet. |
| β c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 23 His fet and his hondan and his muð and his nesa. c 1220 Bestiary 3 [If the lion] man hunten here, Oðer ðurg his nese smel Smake ðat he negge. a 1240 Sawles Warde in O.E. Hom. I. 251 Eiðer curseð oðer & fret of þe oðres earen & te nease alswa. c 1300 Havelok 2450 Hise nese went un-to þe crice. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 166 His nese & his ine he carfe at misauentoure. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxi. 139 Oute of his mouthe and his neese commez..fyre. c 1440 Alph. Tales 152 As he kissid hym, he bate of his fadur nece. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xiii. 16 Sum with his fallow rownis him to pleis That wald for invy byt of his neis. 1580 Hay Demandes in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.) 64 Of the wourd ye mak ane neis of walx, thrawing it to quhat..absurditie ye list. 1590 Bruce Serm. Sacr. P 8 It will..conjoine thee with God, and make all thine actions to smell weill in his nease. 1718 Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. iii. xxi, [He] brak the brig o' 's neese. 1798 Crawford Poems 86 (E.D.D.), The clout wi' whilk ane dights his niz. a 1800 Rob Roy xii. in Child Ballads IV. 247 Ilka ane that did him wrang, He beat him on the neis. 1884 Grant Lays & Leg. 44 Here her Tammie..Lies wi' broken niz an' neck. |
† b. Sc. A ness or headland. Obs. rare.
| 1497 Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 61 It was..ordanit that ij kelis one the tovnis aventouris be brocht to the neyss. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. viii. 58 Than I..Doun at the neis Rethe, by the costis law, A voyd tumb raisit. |
c. Comb. nese-bit Sc. (see quot. 1808); † nese-blood, the plant milfoil or yarrow; † nese-end, the tip of the nose; † neselong adv., face downwards; nese-wise a., Sc. clever, sagacious [cf. Da. næsvis, Sw. näsvis, impertinent].
| a 1400 Stockholm Med. MS. 202 Millefoly or neseblod or ȝarwe. c 1400 Sir Beues (S.) 649 He leide him neslong [v.r. noselyng] to þe grounde. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 634 Hic purulus, a nesehende. 1483 Cath. Angl. 253/1 A Nese ende, pirula. 1790 Shirrefs Poems 138 Ye're a' nis-wise; but, ere ye sleep..Ye'll maybe see [etc.]. 1808 Jamieson, Nisbit, the iron that passes across the nose of a horse, and joins the branks together. |
Hence † nese v. trans., to scent, smell. Obs.—1
| 1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd ii. i, Allbe he know her, As doth the vauting hart his venting hind, Hee nere fra' hence sall neis her i' the wind To his first liking. |
▪ II. nese
obs. form of neeze v.; niece.