Meanings
plural bottlenoses
- The beak or rostrum of a dolphin.
The dolphin’s bottlenose struck the boy causing fatal internal injuries.
2014 June 9, “Utah Toddler Killed By Dolphin In San Francisco”, in The Count3 more examples
I didn’t have a mirror, but I could guess how gross I looked. I had this huge, long bottlenose sticking out of my otherwise normal face. My skin was gray rubber. And when I felt behind me with my rapidly shriveling hands, I could feel the triangular blade of a dorsal fin rising out of my spine.
(Can we date this quote?), K A Applegate, The MessageLilia leaned over the side and Merovinge rose up and touched her nose with the tip of her dolphin's bottlenose while Clovis said, "The water is quite pleasant folks."
2019, Jay P Newcomb, Visigothic: The Legendary JourneysA dolphin might be thinking of ripping your heart out, or poking you to death with its bottlenose, the way it might do to a shark, but since it’s always smiling, you think it’s your friend.
2016 September 24, “‘Challenger’ chronicles a son’s journey through mental illness”, in Statesman, archived from the original on 28 Sep 2021
Synonyms & antonyms
nounany of several dolphins with rounded forehead and well-developed beak; chiefly of northern Atlantic and Mediterranean
nounnorthern Atlantic beaked whale with a bulbous forehead
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From bottle + nose. The creatures have a bottle-shaped nose.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
bottlenose. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bottlenose
“bottlenose.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bottlenose. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bottlenose,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bottlenose.
Source: bottlenose on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.