nostril

• nosethirl (now Britain regional, archaic)

From Middle English nostrille, from Old English nosþȳrel, equivalent to nose +‎ thirl (“hole”). Compare Old Frisian nosterle (“nostril”), modern West Frisian noaster (“nostrill”). Compare also Middle Low German noster (“nostril”), from Proto-Germanic *nustriz (“nostril”).

• enPR: nŏs'trəl, IPA^(key): /ˈnɒstɹɪl/, /ˈnɒstɹəl/

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• Rhymes: -ɒstɹəl

nostril (plural nostrils)

1. Either of the two orifices located on the nose (or on the beak of a bird); used as a passage for air and other gases to travel the nasal passages.

   Synonyms: intake, nare, naris, nosehole

   • 1601, Plinius Secundus, translated by Philemon Holland, The Hiſtorie of the World. Commonly Called, the Naturall Hiſtorie […] ‎, London: Impenſis G. B, Book L, Chapter XIII, page 58:

     […] whether it bee that they bee broken winded and purſiue, or otherwiſe bitten and ſtung with venomous beaſts; in which caſes, there muſt be an injection made vp into the noſthrils, of the juice of Rue in wine.

• “nostril”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “nostril”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• nitrols, trilons