nosegay

plural nosegays

1. A small bunch of fragrant flowers or herbs tied in a bundle, often presented as a gift; nosegays were originally intended to be put to the nose for the pleasant sensation or to mask unpleasant odours.First known use 15th c.

   Tacked to Miss Trixie's desk was a large sign that said miss trixie with an old-fashioned nosegay drawn in crayon in one corner.

   1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, chapter 5, in A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN, page 94

   5 more examples

   [N]o more is Pierce Pennileſſe to be cald the Devils Orator for making a Supplication to the Devill, than hee is to bee helde for a Rhethoritian for ſetting foorth Gabrielis Scurvei Rhetor, wherein hee thought to have knockt out the braines of poore Tullies Orator, but in veritie did nothing elſe, but gather a flauntinge unſavory ſore-horſe noſegay out of his well furniſhed garland.

   1592, Tho[mas] Nashe, “Here Beginneth the First Epistle and First Booke of Orator Gabriell to the Catilinaries or Philippicks”, in Strange Newes, of the Intercepting Certaine Letters and a Convoy of Verses, […], London: […] Iohn Danter, […], →OCLC; republished in J[ohn] Payne Collier, editor, Illustrations of Early English Literature (Miscellaneous Tracts; Temp. Eliz. and Jac. I), volume II, London: Privately printed, [1867], →OCLC, page 17

   Mr. [John] White joins with the reſt of his fellow-voyagers, in vindicating the characters of the Portugueſe ladies from the indiſcriminate cenſure which is caſt on them in Dr. Hawkſworth's account of Captain [James] Cook's firſt voyage: we muſt therefore conclude, that Dr. [Daniel] Solander, and the two gentlemen who were with him, muſt have miſtaken the intent of the noſegays which were ſo plentifully beſtowed on them by the ladies, from their balconies, as they walked through the ſtreets of this place in the evening.

   1791 March, “Art. XV. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, with Sixty-five Plates of Non-descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, Curious Cones of Trees, and Other Natural Productions. By John White, Esq; Surgeon-general to the Settlement. 4to. pp. 334. 1l. 16s. Boards. Debrett. 1790.”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume IV, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, in Pall Mall, →OCLC, page 315

   Late on this same day the trail crossed a bare, rocky hillside, at one point passing between masses of stone ruins; something like a tower to the right, and on the left a sort of walled enclosure. I had lingered behind to gather a nosegay of the small blue flowers that marked the day's march.

   1913 February, Elizabeth [Kimball] Kendall, “The Chien-Ch’ang”, in A Wayfarer in China: Impressions of a Trip across West China and Mongolia, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge [Mass.], →OCLC, page 79

   At the far end of the houses the head gardener stood waiting for his mistress, and he gave her strips of bass to tie up her nosegay. This she did slowly and laboriously, with knuckly old fingers that shook.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 307

   Brody (Damian Lewis): Will you go to the prom with me? / Carrie (Claire Danes): Do I get a corsage? / Brody: Wrist or pin-on? / Carrie: Actually, I'll take a nosegay. / Brody: I-I don't even know what that is. / Carrie: It's a kind of bouquet from medieval times. / Brody: Is that right? / Carrie: Yeah. Pre-shower, pre-soap, they would carry them around to mask the unpleasant smells of the time. To keep their, their "nose gay." I know these things.

   2011, “The Weekend” (32:42 from the start), in Homeland, season 1, episode 7

   Synonyms: posy

2. figurativelyAn aroma, a scent.

   The 80-year-old Government Opium and Alkaloid Works in Neemuch smells better than it looks. The turfy-chocolaty nosegay of raw opium wafts from hundreds of milk cans.

   2007 September 11, Donald G[erald] McNeil, Jr., “In India, a quest to ease the pain of the dying”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2018