nose out
to discover by smelling
to discover by cunning or persistence: the reporter managed to nose out a few facts
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
But Ive marked the last place e bogged down into, an if e just pokes a nose out once more, ell get it in the neck for keeps.
Grapes of wrath | Boyd CableCan we cross a hundred miles of ocean and nose out a little turtle-back in all that raft of islands and keys?
Motor Matt's Peril, or, Cast Away in the Bahamas | Stanley R. MatthewsBut he sees this Troubadour has put his poor old nose out of joint for him.
Thomas Chatterton Jupiter Zeus poked his nose out of the sun-bonnet.
The Story of Opal | Opal WhiteleyTherefore I advise that you either keep your nose out of my business or actively work against me.
Thin Edge | Gordon Randall Garrett
Other Idioms and Phrases with 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.
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