to pick one's nose
- phrasal verb
- Informal
:
meterse los dedos en la nariz
- In public, it's considered rude to pick one's nose.
Or to pick one's nose or to, I don't know, you pick all sorts of other things, you know, take a bath in front of other people who you don't know.
- Or to pick one's nose or to, I don't know, you pick all sorts of other things, you know, take a bath in front of other people who you don't know.
Examples
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You're gonna pick your nose in this truck, you better clear it with me first.
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-You won't be able to pick your nose for a few weeks, kid.
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One thing I did see him do was pick his nose and then eat it.
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Only if you promise not to pick your nose in front of the women.
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Yeah, and I was just watching the Media Break guy pick his nose.
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- Are you picking your nose?
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What, you're gonna pick your nose all day?
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I've told you a million times not to pick your nose.
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Clark, don't pick your nose in front of me, please.
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Don't pick your nose.
Synonyms
5
3.8
Pull at something with your fingers again and again, often nervously
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to use a finger to remove mucus from the inside of one's nose' is directly and transparently derived from 'pick' (to remove), 'one's' (possessive), and 'nose' (a facial organ). This is a literal body-action construction that is cross-linguistically common and follows normal compositional patterns, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily understand it.
Etymology
Pick one's nose paints a simple picture: someone uses a finger to take mucus from inside their nose, so it means 'to use a finger to remove mucus from the inside of one's nose'.