nosewitness
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From nose + witness, by analogy with eyewitness and earwitness.
Noun
[edit]nosewitness (plural nosewitnesses)
- A witness who gives evidence of what they have smelled.
- 1987 March, David F. Armstrong, “Word, Sign And Object”, in Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, volume 77, number 1, →JSTOR, page 28:
- Our language is shot through with expressions that point to this visual primacy: when we need to discover the facts about a crime we seek an eyewitness, not an earwitness. If we were dogs we would probably sniff out a nosewitness but since we are primates and not carnivores we look for someone who saw it done.
- 2020 December 14, Sophie Haigney, “What Does History Smell Like?”, in The New York Times[1]:
- In 1988, the Netherlands national soccer team won the UEFA Championship, beating the Soviet Union 2-0. Celebration ensued. According to nosewitnesses, the smell of the locker room included dirty clothes, coconut shampoo, sweat, smelly feet, leather, grass and Champagne. [image caption]