Dictionary

nose out en · VERB

Meanings

1. (informal, transitive) To find using one's sense of smell.
   • Trained to nose out anything from a hidden handgun to a cache of dynamite, the dogs are employed to check important trains like Rajdhani Express or Ashram Express when they arrive at the platform. 2011 September 12, Yogesh Avasthi, “It’s a dog’s life for railway sniffers”, in Ahmedabad Mirror:
   • In the second place, do sharks really follow ships, when there are corpses on board, more than they do at other times ? and if so, by what particular organisation does a fish in the water continue to nose out the particular origin and direction of an effluvium... 1837, Charles F. Partington, The british cyclopedia of natural history:
2. (figuratively, informal, transitive) To find by searching.
3. (informal, transitive) To defeat by a small margin.
   • We were nosed out for the pennant that year, 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post:
   • Rashnaa nosed out Amiable Grace to finish a distant third in a field reduced to seven after the scratches of Comic Marvel and Dance to the Moon... 2011 September 3, Ron Gierkink, “Atlantic Hurricane beats Embur's Song”, in ESPN:

Forms

Synonyms

sniff out (find by sense of smell) · sniff out (find by searching) · edge out (defeat by a small margin)