Word.ws English Dictionary

tell noses

tell noses verb: synonym of count noses (“to count people one at a time; to determine the number of supporters of a particular politician or issue”).

Verb

tell noses (third-person singular simple present tells noses, present participle telling noses, simple past and past participle told noses)

  1. (archaic) Synonym of count noses (“to count people one at a time; to determine the number of supporters of a particular politician or issue”).
    • Another Noble Lord, my Lord Clare tells you, that he had ſome Diſcourſe with my Lord Howard, and he ſaid, that if he were accuſed, he thought they would but tell Noſes and his busineſs was done.1684, Great Britain. Court of King's Bench, The Arraignment, Tryal & Condemnation of Algernon Sidney, Esq. for High-treason, B. Tooke, page 61
    • E'er they had toſs'd up Heads, or told Noſes, to prevent their being bloody, and to ſtay Fiſticuffs and Quarterſtaff.1709, William Oldisworth, A Dialogue between Timothy and Philatheus, volume 1
    Synonyms:
    count noses

Synonyms of tell noses

Forms of tell noses

third-person singular presenttells noses
present participletelling noses
past participletold noses
pasttold noses

Origin of tell noses

From tell (“to count, reckon, or enumerate”) + noses.

Questions about tell noses

What does tell noses mean?
Tell noses means synonym of count noses (“to count people one at a time; to determine the number of supporters of a particular politician or issue”).
What part of speech is tell noses?
Tell noses is a verb.
What is the past tense of tell noses?
The past tense of tell noses is told noses.

Words near tell noses in the dictionary

  1. tell its own tale
  2. Tell Jadid
  3. tell me about it
  4. tell me another one
  5. tell me something I don't know
  6. tell noses
  7. tell of
  8. tell off
  9. tell on
  10. tell someone where to get off
  11. tell someone where to shove it

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tell noses (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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