nose about

Idioms  

1. Also, nose around. Look for something, especially something private or hidden. For example, She was always nosing about the kitchen, looking in all the cupboards, or The detective nosed around the apartment. [Second half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nose about

Lee Knight’s “A Friend of Dorothy” may be a tad on the nose about the cultural and emotional impact of a lonely London widow on a closeted teenaged boy.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026

I've seen people online saying that those are all conscious nods, and in all honesty, I don't think we would consciously be that on the nose about it.

From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2023

Steven, 48, developed an unusual rash on his cheeks and nose about 13 years ago, and pains in his right arm.

From BBC ● May 26, 2022

Blain-Cruz said she finds in Wilder’s play “the insanity that we’ve been trying to find some way of expressing, without being on the nose about it.”

From New York Times ● Apr. 6, 2022

Her eyes were so tired she was poring over the tiny print of Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charmes with her nose about an inch from the page.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling