also nosebleed, "a discharge of blood from the nose, epistaxis," 1839 (Webster), from nose (n.) + bleed (n.). Also a common name of the yarrow and watercress (15c., compare nasturtium).
Entries linking to nose-bleed
nose n.
Middle English nose, from Old English nosu "the nose of the human head, the special organ of breathing and smelling," from Proto-Germanic *nuso- (source also of Old Norse nös, Old Frisian nose, Dutch neus, Old High German nasa, German Nase), from PIE root *nas- "nose."
Used of beaks or snouts of animals from mid-13c.; of any prominent or projecting part supposed to resemble a nose from late 14c. (nose cone in the space rocket sense is from 1949). Meaning "sense of smell" is from mid-14c. Meaning "odor, scent" is from 1894. In Middle English, to have one's spirit in one's nose was to "be impetuous or easily angered" (c. 1400).
Kiv, It could bee no other then his owne manne, that had thrust his nose so farre out of ioynte. ["Barnabe Riche His Farewell to Military Profession," 1581]
To pay through the nose "pay excessively" (1670s) seems to suggest bleeding. Many extended meanings are from the horse-racing sense of "length of a horse's nose," as a measure of distance between two finishers (1908). To turn up one's nose "show disdain, express scorn or contempt" is from 1818 (earlier hold up one's nose, 1570s); a similar notion is expressed in look down one's nose (1907). To say something is under (one's) nose "in plain view, directly in front of one" is from mid-15c. To be as plain as the nose on one's face "very easy to be seen or understood" is from 1590s.
bleed v.
Old English bledan, "cause to lose blood, to let blood" (in Middle English and after, especially "to let blood from surgically"), also (intransitive) "emit blood," from Proto-Germanic *blodjan "emit blood" (source also of Old Norse blæða, Dutch bloeden, German bluten), from PIE *bhlo-to- "swell, gush, spurt," or "that which bursts out," from suffixed form of root *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom."
The meaning "extort money from" is from 1670s. Of dyes or paints, "to wash out," from 1862. Figuratively, of the heart, "suffer anguish, feel pity or sorrow," late 14c.
nasturtium n.
name given to various plants of the mustard family, including watercress, late Old English nasturtium, nasturcium, from Latin nasturtium "cress;" the popular etymology explanation of the name (Pliny) is that it is from Latin *nasitortium, literally "nose-twist," from nasus "nose" (from PIE root *nas- "nose") + past participle of torquere "to twist" (from PIE root *terkw- "to twist"); the plant so called for its somewhat acrid odor. Modern application to a South American trailing plant with orange flowers is recorded from 1704.