nostril

• nosethirl (now Britain regional, archaic)

From earlier nosthril, from Middle English nosethirl ~ nosethril (and other forms), 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/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• 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.
   • 1601, Plinius Secundus, Philemon Holland, transl., 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.

• nare
• naris
• nosehole

• nostril in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• nostril in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

• nitrols, trilons