Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ava King, who lives in the last house before the water started, was yelling at the driver of a pickup truck that was nosing into the water.
From New York Times ● Sep. 29, 2022
Photograph: Matt Squire/BBC/Red Production Company Ltd It was nosing toward disaster, but could have pulled back from the brink until the arrival this week of protagonist Sara's French ex-girlfriend.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 12, 2013
Has Harris ever asked a press spokesman or other official source if another reporter was nosing around the story he was working on?
From Slate ● Mar. 1, 2011
I was nosing about, and came across a photograph of Janet playing Cleopatra in 1973.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 28, 2010
His paws were half buried in the wet gravel and he was nosing at something large and flat on the waterline.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
