Bluenoser, a moniker long used to describe Nova Scotians, has been added to the pages of the Oxford English Dictionary.

According to the dictionary, the term defines a native or inhabitant of Nova Scotia or occasionally New Brunswick.

Bill Davey, a retired Cape Breton University professor, has long studied the origin of word.

"One referred to the early Nova Scotian sailors who would be out in the cold weather and supposedly their nose would get cold and turn blue and the other one refers to the early settlers who would eat a lot of blue potatoes and herring," he said.

"I think it was probably originated as a bit of an insult but people sort of redeemed it or bought into it and so it became something of pride, particularly because of the success of the Bluenose sailboat, the schooner."

He said during the 1760s when the term was first coined, the land that is now New Brunswick and Nova Scotia was just referred to as Nova Scotia.

The word Bluenose itself is now used for businesses and events across the province.

"I guess it adds a certain amount of prestige and maybe pride that they're in such an important book," Davey said.

In Cape Breton many people, like Christie Nickelo, were surprised the term bluenoser wasn't already an official word.

"I think that not that long ago the word bootylicious from Beyoncé was added so if we're going to add things like that I can deal with bluenoser being added."