1 N‑UNCOUNT Food can be referred to as nosh . [BRIT , INFORMAL ] □ Fancy some nosh?
2 N‑SING A nosh is a snack or light meal. [AM , INFORMAL ]
3 VERB If you nosh , you eat. [INFORMAL ] □ [V ] She sprinkled pepper on my grub, watching me nosh. □ [V n] …a big-bellied bird noshing some heather.
no -sho w N‑SING If someone who is expected to go somewhere fails to go there, you can say that they are a no-show . □ He was a no-show at last week's game in Milwaukee.
nos|tal|gia /nɒstæ ldʒə/ N‑UNCOUNT Nostalgia is an affectionate feeling you have for the past, especially for a particularly happy time. □ [+ for ] He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth. □ He discerned in the novel an air of Sixties nostalgia.
nos|tal|gic /nɒstæ ldʒ I k/
1 ADJ Nostalgic things cause you to think affectionately about the past. □ Although we still depict nostalgic snow scenes on Christmas cards, winters are now very much warmer. □ Somehow the place even smelt wonderfully nostalgic.
2 ADJ [usu v-link ADJ ] If you feel nostalgic , you think affectionately about experiences you had in the past. □ [+ for/about ] Many people were nostalgic for the good old days. ● nos|tal|gi|cal|ly /nɒstæ ldʒ I kli/ ADV [ADV with v, oft ADV adj] □ People look back nostalgically on the war period, simply because everyone pulled together.
nos|tril /nɒ str I l/ (nostrils ) N‑COUNT Your nostrils are the two openings at the end of your nose.
nos|trum /nɒ strəm/ (nostrums )
1 N‑COUNT [usu pl] You can refer to ideas or theories about how something should be done as nostrums , especially when you think they are old-fashioned or wrong in some way. [FORMAL ] □ …yesterday's failed socialist nostrums. [Also + of ]
2 N‑COUNT If you refer to a medicine as a nostrum , you mean that it is not effective or has not been tested in a proper scientific way. □ …pills, tablets, and other nostrums claiming to be magic potions.
nosy /noʊ zi/ (nosier , nosiest ) also nosey ADJ If you describe someone as nosy , you mean that they are interested in things which do not concern them. [INFORMAL , DISAPPROVAL ] □ He was having to whisper in order to avoid being overheard by their nosy neighbours. □ I agree that the press is often too nosy about a candidate's personal history.
not ◆◆◆ /nɒ t/ Not is often shortened to n't in spoken English, and added to the auxiliary or modal verb. For example, 'did not' is often shortened to 'didn't'. 1 ADV You use not with verbs to form negative statements. □ The sanctions are not working the way they were intended. □ I was not in Britain at the time. □ There are many things you won't understand here. □ I don't trust my father anymore.
2 ADV You use not to form questions to which you expect the answer 'yes'. □ Haven't they got enough problems there already? □ Didn't I see you at the party last week? □ Don't you just love lying in the sunshine?
3 ADV You use not , usually in the form n't , in questions which imply that someone should have done something, or to express surprise that something is not the case. □ Why didn't you do it months ago? □ Hasn't anyone ever kissed you before? □ Shouldn't you have gone further?
4 ADV You use not , usually in the form n't , in question tags after a positive statement. □ 'It's a nice piece of jewellery though, isn't it?'. □ I've been a great husband, haven't I?
5 ADV You use not , usually in the form n't , in polite suggestions. [POLITENESS ] □ Actually we do have a position in mind. Why don't you fill out our application? □ Couldn't they send it by train?
6 ADV You use not to represent the negative of a word, group, or clause that has just been used. □ 'Have you found Paula?'—'I'm afraid not, Kate.' □ At first I really didn't care whether he came or not.
7 ADV You can use not in front of 'all' or 'every' when you want to say something that applies only to some members of the group that you are talking about. □ Not all the money, to put it mildly, has been used wisely. □ Not every applicant had a degree.
8 ADV If something is not always the case, you mean that sometimes it is the case and sometimes it is not. □ She couldn't always afford a babysitter. □ The life of an FBI agent wasn't always as glamorous as people thought.
9 ADV You can use not or not even in front of 'a' or 'one' to emphasize that there is none at all of what is being mentioned. [EMPHASIS ] □ The houses are beautiful, but there's no shop, not even a pub to go into. □ I sent report after report. But not one word was published.
10 ADV You can use not in front of a word referring to a distance, length of time, or other amount to say that the actual distance, time, or amount is less than the one mentioned. □ The tug crossed our stern not fifty yards away. □ They were here not five minutes ago!
11 ADV You use not when you are contrasting something that is true with something that is untrue. You use this especially to indicate that people might think that the untrue statement is true. □ They married not because it made economic sense but because they loved one another. □ Training is an investment not a cost.
12 ADV You use not in expressions such as 'not only', 'not just', and 'not simply' to emphasize that something is true, but it is not the whole truth. [EMPHASIS ] □ These movies were not only making money; they were also perceived to be original. □ The 1790s were bad times, not just in Scotland but all across England.
13 PHRASE You use not that to introduce a negative clause that contradicts something that the previous statement implies. □ His death took me a year to get over; not that you're ever really over it.