Dictionary

look down one's nose

Verb

(idiomatic, usually, followed by at) To regard as inferior or distasteful; to hold in contempt.
- 1940, Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton, The House of Lee (2005 Kessinger ed.), ISBN 9781419135378, [http://books.google.ca/books?id=3ommZIXTcN4C&pg=PA98&dq=%22down+your+nose+at%22+look+OR+looks+OR+looking+OR+looked+subject:%22fiction%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=2001&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=2008&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=39#v=onepage&q=%22down%20your%20nose%20at%22%20look%20OR%20looks%20OR%20looking%20OR%20looked%20subject%3A%22fiction%22&f=false p. 98]:
  You look too high and mighty; customers would think you were looking down your nose at them.
- 1952, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816210,00.html The Press: Fried Crow, à la Mode]," Time, 24 March:
  The New York Daily News's Columnist John O'Donnell, a Taftman, looked down his nose at Eisenhower's campaign.
- 2003, Joy Fielding, Whispers and Lies, ISBN 9780770429195, [http://books.google.ca/books?id=5r9YfhwHCTwC&pg=PA7&dq=%22down+her+nose+at%22+look+OR+looks+OR+looking+OR+looked+subject:%22fiction%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=2001&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=2008&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a&cd=48#v=onepage&q=%22down%20her%20nose%20at%22%20look%20OR%20looks%20OR%20looking%20OR%20looked%20subject%3A%22fiction%22&f=false p. 7]:
  [S]he has such a superior look about her, you know, like some snooty society matron, looking down her nose at the rest of us.

Translations

Italian: guardare dall'alto in basso
Russian: смотре́ть с высока́
Spanish: mirar por encima del hombro

This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002