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Glite Dictionary
to count noses

to count noses

1 3.6
To check how many people are present
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : contar cabezas
  • Every morning, the teacher would count noses to see that all students were present.

Examples

  • Please count noses before we start the meeting.

  • It’s important to count noses before leaving the venue after the event.

  • Before the bus leaves, let's count noses to make sure we're not missing anyone.

  • The teacher counts noses every morning.

  • Before each meeting, the teacher always counts noses to make sure all the students are present.

  • At the festival, the organizer counts noses to ensure that everyone has been accounted for.

  • During roll call, the coach counts noses to verify that all players are present and ready.

Surface Forms

count noses infinitive
counted noses past
counted noses past participle
counting noses present participle
counts noses third person singular

Morphology

count + noses

The meaning 'to check the number of people present' is directly derivable from 'count' (to tally) plus 'noses' (body parts standing for people) because counting noses maps straightforwardly onto counting persons. This is a minimally figurative, easily inferable pattern (cf. 'count heads') and is likely obvious to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

The phrase count noses comes from a simple picture: a teacher or leader looks at a group and counts each person's nose to see how many people are there. So, to count noses means 'to check the number of people present' or 'make sure everyone is there'.