take it on the nose —(sl.) meet misfortune or defeat courageously (also: take it on the chin):
- And as the 1980s saw labor take it on the nose when choosing to strike, so the late 1990s have been an era of high-stakes labor wins.
take it through the nose—(U.S. Drug users) inhale cocaine:
- He went into the john, and most of us knew he had to take it through the nose right then.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase pay through the nose—pay too much for smth.:
- It’s a terrible car, and what annoys me is that I paid through the nose for it.