were nosing

• past progressive

  past progressive

  Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.

  of nose.
  nose

  noun

  the part of the face or facial region in humans and certain animals that contains the nostrils and the organs of smell and functions as the usual passageway for air in respiration: in humans it is a prominence in the center of the face formed of bone and cartilage, serving also to modify or modulate the voice.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

were nosing

Now retirees were nosing around the North Carolina mountains again, and his father was building again.

From New York Times ● May 25, 2016

Be prepared for her to flip out over the fact that you were nosing about in her bedroom, and that you again seem to be lording your high-prestige parchment over her.

From Slate ● Feb. 20, 2014

By the time he was 16, Rocky was a star for the semipro Mohawks playing out of Crotona Park, and major-league scouts were nosing about.

From Time Magazine Archive

Like busy tugs about a liner, two congressional committees last week were nosing about a leviathan among federal agencies, the Federal Maritime Board.

From Time Magazine Archive

Two famine-stricken dogs were nosing obscenely in the garbage at its door.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Related Words

• pry
• sniff
• snoop