olfactory nerve

American  

noun

Anatomy.

1. either one of the first pair of cranial nerves, consisting of sensory fibers that conduct to the brain the impulses from the mucous membranes of the nose.

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olfactory nerve British  

noun

1. either one of the first pair of cranial nerves, supplying the mucous membrane of the nose

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olfactory nerve Scientific  

1. Either of the first pair of cranial nerves that carries sensory information relating to smell from the nose to the brain.

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Etymology

Origin of olfactory nerve

First recorded in 1660–70

Example Sentences

That inflammation could explain why the samples from the smell-loss group had substantially fewer olfactory nerve cells, the “key cells” for smelling, Goldstein said.

From Seattle Times • Dec. 27, 2022

Still other researchers study how the virus attacks the olfactory nerve, which conveys smell sensations to the brain.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 29, 2022

The practice was tacitly accepted because it could yield valuable insights — Hunter discovered the tear ducts and the olfactory nerve, among other things — but the human toll was horrifying nonetheless.

From Salon • Aug. 1, 2021

“The coronavirus can actually attack and invade olfactory nerve endings,” Hopkins said.

From Washington Post • Apr. 14, 2020

Ammonia.—Under the various titles of "Smelling Salts," "Preston Salts," "Inexhaustible Salts," "Eau de Luce," "Sal Volatile," ammonia, mixed with other odoriferous bodies, has been very extensively consumed as material for gratifying the olfactory nerve.

From The Art of Perfumery And Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants by Piesse, George William Septimus