conqueror's nose
Preserved but no longer current.
A prominent straight nose, rising at the bridge. Charlemagne had such a nose, so had Henry the Fowler (Hem- rich I of Germany); Rudolf I of Germany; Friednch I of Hohenzollern, famous for reducing to order his unruly barons by blowing up their castles (1382-1440); our own "Iron Duke"; Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of Prussia, etc.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “conqueror's nose” mean?
A prominent straight nose, rising at the bridge. Charlemagne had such a nose, so had Henry the Fowler (Hem- rich I of Germany); Rudolf I of Germany; Friednch I of Hohenzollern, famous for reducing to order his unruly barons by blowing up their castles (1382-1440); our own "Iron Duke"; Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor of Prussia, etc.
Is “conqueror's nose” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.