pope's nose

1 9.6

A fatty tail end of a cooked chicken or turkey that many people like to eat

noun
/poʊps noʊz/

: cola de la gallina

At Thanksgiving, my uncle made sure to save the pope's nose for himself.

Examples

Some people avoid eating the pope's nose, but others consider it a treat.
The chef served the pope's noses with gravy.
She always claimed the pope's nose was the tastiest part of the roast chicken.
I love the pope's nose on a roast chicken.
At the holiday feast, everyone fought for the pope's nose, as it was considered the best part of the turkey.
My grandmother always saved the pope's nose for herself, believing it to be the tastiest part of the chicken.
When I first tried the pope's nose, I was surprised by how tender and flavorful it was, quickly becoming my favorite dish.

Synonyms

parson's nose

vspope's nose

9.9

The fatty tail of a cooked bird like a chicken or turkey

is the same tail but often regarded as a delicacy rather than just edible

Surface Forms

pope's nose singular

pope's noses plural

Morphology

pope's + nose

The constituents 'pope's' (possessive of a religious figure) and 'nose' (facial organ) give no transparent clue to the tail end of a cooked bird; the naming is idiomatic and arbitrary. A B1 learner who knows the words but has not encountered the expression would not infer the meaning, and many languages use different terms for this cut, so the linkage is unpredictable.

Etymology

Pope's nose may come from a playful name: people thought a bird's small tail looked like a little nose, and calling it after a church leader made the name sound polite. That's why pope's nose now means the fatty tail end of a cooked bird and is often kept as 'a treat'.