Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

retroussé en · ADJ

Pronunciation

  • /ɹəˈtɹuːseɪ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ˌɹɛtɹuˈseɪ/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re- French re- French trousser French retroussébor. English retroussé From French retroussé, past participle of retrousser (“to hitch up, hike up”), from re- (from Latin re- (“back, backwards; again”), from Proto-Italic *wre- (“again”)) + trousser (“to fold up, hitch up”).

Meanings

  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:
    • 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:
    • "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:
    • [...] 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:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
retrousse alternative lexicographic
most retroussé Degree=Sup lexicographic
more retroussé Degree=Cmp lexicographic

Synonyms

pug-nosed (describing a nose) · snub-nosed (describing a nose) · upturned

Translations (2)

tr kalkık (turned up) · bg чип (turned up)