Word of the DayFriday, March 09, 2001
nosegay
\NOHZ-gay\ , noun:1.
A bunch of odorous and showy flowers; a bouquet; a posy.
Quotes:
There was the glamour of George Pollexfen's horses, racing under his colours of primrose and violet: the children went to Lissadell races with four horses and postilions, nosegays of primroses and violets pinned to their coats.
-- R. F. Foster, W.B. Yeats: A Life, Vol. 1
Fussing about in black smalls, silks, buckles, cocked hat, and always with a prodigious nosegay, Lowther could not conceivably have been a less romantic character.
-- Kenneth R. Johnston, The Hidden Wordsworth
The country is one big nosegay, the scents wonderful.
-- W. Morris,
Origin:
Nosegay is nose and gay joined together to mean "something bright and showy that one holds to the nose."
