retroussé

comparative more retroussé · superlative most retroussé · alternative retrousse

1. Turned up, especially when describing the nose.

   She shares with this woman the same retroussé nose and half-moon eyes, the same asymmetrical smile.

   2008, Fiona Capp, Musk & Byrne, Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin, →ISBN

   5 more examples

   [...] Roxelane [...] would never have been espoused by the Sultan [Suleiman the Magnificent] had not her nose been retroussé, thus[…]. / It may be noted that to this day a retroussé nose is known in France as a nose a la Roxelane.

   1903 April, “Sir Oracle” [pseudonym], The Era: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine of Literature and of General Interest, volume XI, number 4, Philadelphia, Pa.: Henry T. Coates & Co., →OCLC, page 303

   "A tight little craft," was Austin's invariable comment on the matron;[…]. Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “A Novice”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 363

   You know, a touch of character – slightly retroussé nose, big mouth, perhaps a couple of freckles.

   1967, Michael Gilbert, “Part Two: Tendresse v. Lucille”, in The Dust and the Heat, London: Hodder & Stoughton; republished Looe, Cornwall: House of Stratus, 2004, →ISBN, page 128

   Luminous silver gray eyes outlined in sooty lashes; a pert retroussé nose and faintly carmine tinted lips, slightly full, finished the oval face.

   2004, Anita-Louise Johnson, chapter 1, in Faithful, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 3

   I would simply waffle about her small, almost perfectly upswept, retroussé nose, and you'd consider me insane, and put me back.

   2009, Jasper Fforde, “The Word”, in Shades of Grey, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →OCLC

   Synonyms: upturned, pug-nosed, snub-nosed