nose out


verb(tr, adverb)
  1. to discover by smelling

  2. to discover by cunning or persistence: the reporter managed to nose out a few facts

  1. informal to beat by a narrow margin: he was nosed out of first place by the champion

Words Nearby nose out

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use nose out in a sentence

Other Idioms and Phrases with nose out

nose out

Defeat by a narrow margin, as in She barely nosed out the incumbent. This expression, alluding to a horse's winning with its nose in front, has been used figuratively since the mid-1900s.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.