nose around

phrasal verb

nosed around; nosing around; noses around

: to search for something (such as private or hidden information) in usually a quiet or secret way

She caught him nosing around in her papers/office.

The police nosed around the property for a while, but they didn't find anything.

Examples of nose around in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Doctors usually repair the lip and nose around 3 to 6 months, close the palate around 9 to 18 months and then wait to do a bone graft until children are about 5 to 11 years old, though there is debate about when in that age range is best. —Megan Rose, ProPublica, 6 Mar. 2024

One of them nosed around the trap and tentatively entered it. —Jonathan Franzen, The New Yorker, 25 Dec. 2023

Would Rory and Lorelai, devoted high-culture haters who prefer ordering pizza and mainlining Cop Rock to nosing around museums, ever be caught dead here? —Emma Specter, Vogue, 28 Nov. 2023

Then there are four slightly older puppies, pit bull mixes probably, whose eyes are still tightly shut, futilely nosing around the crate for their mother who never made it to the shelter. —Jeanette Marantos, Los Angeles Times, 30 Aug. 2023

Bulldozers and heavy machinery have nosed around the surrounding district for years, demolishing housing in working-class neighborhoods, apparently to make way for new construction. —Vivian Yee, New York Times, 26 Aug. 2023

Recently, Lowe invited the famous Belmont Goats over to nose around. —Jeastman, oregonlive, 11 Aug. 2023