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blood nose


noun a bleeding from the nose. Compare bloody nose, nosebleed.

Contributor's comments: Always heard this expression and never nosebleed when at school in the inner western suburbs of Melbourne in 1960s. Most children were the 1st generation of Greek, Italian & Yugoslav origins with children from Anglo Celtic backgrounds and usually from working class backgrounds.


Contributor's comments: [Melbourne informant] To be honest I never realised that "blood nose" wasn't the right way of saying it! It's what we always said at school!

Contributor's comments: Nose bleed and blood nose mean two different things. One has a nose bleed for medical reasons. One is given or delivers a bloodnose by a blow.

Contributor's comments: [Melbourne informant] I thought the term blood nose was used pretty much everywhere. My Mum grew up in the eastern suburbs and she uses it, and my Dad grew up in northern Victoria, and he uses it too. Everyone at school says blood nose.

Contributor's comments: Where I grew up in Sydney I never, ever, heard the term "bloodnose", we only ever used "nose bleed", whether from being punched or for any other reason.

Contributor's comments: We'd just moved down to Melbourne from Brisbane when I was 7 and learnt quickly to use 'blood nose' instead of 'nosebleed', at least while we were at school, because we'd get laughed at otherwise. It was used universally for all types of nosebleeds as far as I know. No distinction between medical causes or accident/violence.

Contributor's comments: We always used this term when we were kids. I never even considered it to be a "regional" term.

Contributor's comments: I think the term blood nose is actually the shortened version of "Bloody Nose". In my day "Bloody" was a swear word and you got a clip around the ears for using it in any context.

Contributor's comments: [Central West NSW informant] As kids we always gave someone a "bloody nose" but they got a "bleeding nose". Only adults said "nosebleed".

Contributor's comments: When I was a kid we used Bloody nose, it was the only time we could bloody without getting in to trouble.

Contributor's comments: Growing up in Adelaide we only ever had blood noses.

Contributor's comments: I grew up in Geelong and from the age of about 2 I have suffered from nose bleeds, but we always called them a blood nose. I also didn't realise that this wasn't correct English.

Contributor's comments: I grew up in Melbourne and had blood noses - my kids who are 19 and 12 in country NSW/ACT also have blood noses. My son offered the opinion that they are caused by thinking too much.