Is this really a word?

From Dictionary.com:

Word of the Day for Tuesday November 8, 2005

nosegay \NOHZ-gay\, noun:
A bunch of odorous and showy flowers; a bouquet; a posy.

There was the glamour of George Pollexfen's horses, racing
under his colours of primrose and violet: the children went
to Lissadell races with four horses and postilions,
nosegays of primroses and violets pinned to their coats.
--R. F. Foster, [1]W.B. Yeats: A Life (Vol. 1)

"Fussing about in black smalls, silks, buckles, cocked hat,
and always with a prodigious nosegay," Lowther could not
conceivably have been a less romantic character.
--Kenneth R. Johnston, [2]The Hidden Wordsworth

The country is one big nosegay, the scents wonderful.
--W. Morris
_________________________________________________________

Nosegay is nose and gay joined together to mean "something
bright and showy that one holds to the nose."