nostril

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   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.

   […]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.

2. 2
   noun

   either one of the two external openings to the nasal cavity in the nose

Etymology

From Middle English nostrille, from Old English nosþyrel. Compare Old Frisian nosterle (“nostril”), modern West Frisian noaster (“nostrill”). Compare also Middle Low German noster (“nostril”), from Proto-Germanic *nustriz (“nostril”). By surface analysis, nose + thirl (“hole”).