nozzle

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English noselle (“socket of a candlestick”),^[2][3][4] a diminutive formed from English nose + -le.^{[5][6][7][3][4]} The early spellings were nosle and nosel,^[8][9] and the spelling nozzle is recorded from 1741.^[3] Hoad notes that the forms are known only from the 17th century, so that if the word comes from nose it must have existed much earlier.^[8] The noun nose is from Old English nosu, from Proto-Germanic *nuso- and Proto-Indo-European *nas- (“nose”).^[4] Klein compares nuzzle.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A socket on a candlestick or sconce into which the end of the candle fits: 1447, in the chronicles of St Albans Abbey.^[5] Barnhart dates the Middle English word before 1450 and Merriam-Webster to the 15th century,^[3][11] while the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English date the word from the early 17th century.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The candlestick sense was used until the mid-19th century.^[5] From 1683 the word named a spout, mouthpiece or short end pipe from which a jet of liquid or gas is discharged,^[5][3][4] the main sense today.^[9][11] As a playful word for the nose it is recorded from 1689,^[5] and slang dictionaries list it from Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1785) on, for the nose or a nostril, as in boxing reports.^[12] Johnson (1755) had nozle for the nose,^[13] and in the 19th century nozzle still meant the nose, or a horse's nose, in dialects from Yorkshire to Somerset.^[13] A projecting end, especially a ship's prow, is recorded from 1804.^[5] The verb, to deliver something through a nozzle, dates from 1985.^[5]

Timeline

• 1447 – the socket of a candlestick (obsolete by 1847).^[5]
• 1683 – a spout or short pipe for discharging a jet of fluid.^[5][3]
• 1689 – colloquial, the nose.^[5]
• 1741 – the spelling nozzle.^[3]
• 1804 – a projecting end, especially a ship's prow.^[5]
• 1985 – verb, to deliver through a nozzle.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A projecting spout or short tube at the end of a hose or pipe, which directs the flow of a liquid or gas.^{[9][2][11][5]}
2. A shaped duct, as in a jet engine or rocket, that speeds up the exhaust to produce thrust.^[9][11]
3. (slang) The nose.^[2][5][12]
4. (now rare) A socket on a candlestick that holds the candle.^[6][9][11]

Verb

1. To spray or deliver through a nozzle.^[11][5]
2. To fit with a nozzle.^[11]

Related words

• nose
• nuzzle

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)