nose out

present singular third person noses out · participle present nosing out · participle past nosed out · past nosed out

1. informaltransitiveTo 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

   1 more example

   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

   Synonyms: sniff out

2. figurativelyinformaltransitiveTo find by searching.

   Synonyms: sniff out

3. informaltransitiveTo 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

   1 more example

   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

   Synonyms: edge out