follow one's nose
Related to follow one's nose: Nose around, turn up one's nose
follow (one's) nose
1. To walk straight ahead (thus walking in the direction that one's nose is facing). A: "Should I turn here?" B: "No, follow your nose and keep walking in a straight line—you'll be at my house soon enough."
2. To follow a scent, in an attempt to find its source. I thought I smelled something baking, so I followed my nose down to the kitchen and found my mom icing a cake!
3. To trust one's instinct when making a judgment or decision or taking action. I tend to follow my nose when I have a bad feeling about someone, and it's helped me to avoid a lot of drama.
See also: follow, nose
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
follow one's nose
Go straight ahead, as in To get to the restaurant, just follow your nose down Baker Avenue. [Late 1600s]
See also: follow, nose
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
follow one's nose, to
To go straight ahead. This expression dates from the fifteenth century or even earlier. “Right forth on thy nose. Recta via encode,” wrote John Stanbridge in a collection of common expressions dated 1510. In the nineteenth century the retort “Follow your nose,” in answer to someone asking directions, was a rather less polite way of saying the same thing.
See also: follow
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
- follow your nose
- follow (one's) nose
- follow nose
- follow one's nose, to
- get straight
- line drive
- be as straight as a die
- straight goods
- the straight goods
- straight