Meaning & Analysis
Literally describes the act of lifting one’s nose into the air, typically to suggest disdain, disapproval, or a sense of superiority toward someone or something.
Insights
Arrogance and Superiority
Symbolizes a posture of condescension or self-importance, where one metaphorically elevates themselves above others or devalues that which they deem beneath them.
Moral or Social Judgment
Implies an act of scorn or dismissal rooted in perceived moral, cultural, or aesthetic superiority. Holding up one’s nose becomes a way to distance oneself from what is considered base or unworthy.
Rejection Through Pride
Suggests turning away from an opportunity, idea, or offering not out of merit, but because of personal pride or snobbery, often to one’s own detriment.
Physiognomic Posture and Class Signals
The lifted nose posture historically signaled haughtiness and was associated with aristocratic bearing. This embodied stance became a coded social signal—used to mark status or superiority without words.
Gender and Presumption
The 1579 quote from Tomson critiques women’s pride, reflecting early modern anxieties about female self-assertion. The proverb thus participates in larger discourses on gender roles, pride, and moral discipline.
Wind and Suspicion
Closely related to 'something in the wind,' the posture also connotes suspicion or anticipation—lifting one’s nose like a hound catching scent—highlighting the double nature of the gesture: disdain and alertness.
Satirical Function in Drama
Renaissance comedies and satires often used this expression visually and verbally to ridicule social climbers, hypocrites, or the self-righteous. The nose became a comedic device to puncture pretension.
Rhetorical Devices
Metaphor
The raised nose becomes a metaphor for pride, contempt, or perceived superiority—transforming a bodily motion into an abstract social critique.
Symbolism
The nose serves as a symbol of perception and judgment, its elevation signaling a distancing from what is considered unworthy.
Irony
Often used ironically, especially in drama, to expose the foolishness or vanity of those who 'hold up their noses,' making the posture itself a target of mockery.
Transcription
Quotations
Let women holde vppe their noses no more: for all their presumption is sufficiently beaten downe here.
He carries his nose up in the winde.
Here he comes, His nose held up; he hath something in the wind.
Cross References
- See St., no. 1625.
- S621 There is something (somewhat) in the wind.
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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