Meaning
To act out of anger, revenge or principle in a way that harms you more than the person it is aimed at. Typically describes self-destructive stubbornness in a dispute, and it is very often used in the imperative as advice not to do it. Neutral register and mildly reproachful; nearly always describes someone else's behaviour. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The metaphor is genuinely medieval: Peter of Blois, writing between 1188 and 1191, quoted it as an already current common saying in medieval Latin, roughly 'he who cuts off his nose takes poor revenge for a shame inflicted on him', and Middle French versions are recorded from about 1340. The earliest known English attestation is in The deceyte of women (c. 1557): 'He that byteth hys nose of, shameth hys fate', with 'fate' a misprint for 'face'. Francis Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1788) gave the first dictionary definition, 'He cut off his nose to be revenged of his face'. A colourful rival story links the phrase to Saint Aebbe the Younger and her nuns cutting off their noses to deter Viking raiders, but that legend was written down decades after Peter of Blois had already called the saying proverbial, so it cannot be the origin; nose-cutting was, however, a real medieval punishment, which helps explain the image's currency.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- Cut off one's nose to spite one's face
- Cutting off your nose to spite your face
- Don't cut off your nose to spite your face
- He cut off his nose to be revenged of his face
Usage Examples
- Refusing to sell to the highest bidder because you dislike the buyer is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
- Don't cut off your nose to spite your face: resigning over one argument would cost you the pension.
- By boycotting her own book launch she merely cut off her nose to spite her face.