nose count

English

Noun

nose count (plural nose counts)

  1. (idiomatic, uncommon, somewhat dated) Synonym of headcount.
    • 1935, Max Radin, Alexander Marsden Kidd (editors), Legal Essays in Tribute to Orrin Kip McMurray, page 313:
      Again, we can afford the nose count - because, where we have to, we can undo its results.
    • 1962, United States, Congress, House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, Subcommittee on Census and Statistics, Mid-Decade Census, page 15:
      Getting back to the question, in all fairness to you and to everyone concerned, because there is a matter of money involved in this thing, although your statement was that it was not sufficient, that is, a simple nose count and a housing census, would that have some importance, however?
    • 1968, William Safire, The New Language of Politics - An Anecdotal Dictionary of Catchwords, Slogans, and Political Usage, page 108:
      The power of polling, both on nose counts and in depth, was never more vividly demonstrated than in the 1968 New Hampshire primary campaign.
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