nuzzle

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To push or thrust (the nose or snout, face or muzzle, or head, or an object) against or…

   To push or thrust (the nose or snout, face or muzzle, or head, or an object) against or into something.

   • Shee [Wisdom] nuzzleth her ſelfe in his [the scholar's] boſom, cheriſheth his ſoule, lifts-vp his lovve-groueling thoghts as high as Heauen: […]
   • Then at the Play-Houſe ye ogle the Boxes, and dop and bovv to thoſe you do not knovv, as vvell as thoſe you do. […] You nuzzle your Noſes into their Hoods and Commodes, […]
2. 2

   To rub or touch (someone or something) with the nose, face, etc., or an object.

   • The horse nuzzled its foal’s head gently to wake him up.
   • She nuzzled her girlfriend in the cinema.
   • Some twenty whale-boats were nuzzling a sand-bank which was dotted with English soldiery of half a dozen corps, bathing or washing their clothes.
3. 3

   Chiefly of an animal

   Chiefly of an animal: to dig (something, especially food) out of the ground using the nose or snout; to root.

4. ›+ 9 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Often followed by in or into

      Often followed by in or into: to press or push the nose or snout, mouth, face, etc., against or into someone or something; to touch someone or something with the nose or snout, etc.

      • The bird nuzzled up to the wires of the cage.
   2. 5

      Followed by down

      Followed by down: to settle or lie comfortably and snugly in a bed, nest, etc.; to nestle.

      • [T]h' abſtruſeſt things / VVhich in the Mind's dark Temper nuzling lie, / By you expoſed are to every eye.
      • [T]he ferret is a shivery creature, and likes nothing so well as to nozzle down in a coat-pocket with a little hay.
   3. 6

      Chiefly followed by up or with

      Chiefly followed by up or with: to press affectionately against someone or something; to nestle, to snuggle.

      • [W]ill your reſt / ſeme ſvveeter, if I nuzzle on your breſt?
      • Making some inarticulate whimper of communication, it [the baby] nuzzled up to her, its eyes closed, but its head working against her bosom with the instinct of suckling, though it had never sucked.
   4. 7

      To come into close contact with someone or something.

      • It was nearly all downhill into Shrewsbury, with two intermediate stops, and a grand sequence of long curves around which Soult nuzzled her way with a quick side-to-side action.
   5. 8

      To feel or probe with the fingers.

      • The Professor […] [f]eels thorax and arm, and nuzzles round among muscles as those horrid old women poke their fingers into the salt-meat on the provision-stalls at the Quincy Market.
   6. 9

      An act of nuzzling (all verb senses).

   7. 10

      Often followed by up '''or ''with

      Often followed by up '''or ''with: to nurture or train (oneself or someone) to act a certain way, have certain beliefs, etc.

      • Yf any man therfore vſe the ſcripture to drawe the [thee] from Chriſte and to noſell the [thee] in any thinge ſave in Chriſte / the ſame is a falſe prophete.
   8. 11

      Chiefly followed by up

      Chiefly followed by up: to bring up (someone); to foster, to rear; also, to educate (someone); to train.

   9. 12

      To care for (someone) affectionately

      To care for (someone) affectionately; to hold dear (someone); to cherish, to nurse; also, to provide (someone or something) a comfortable and snug place to settle or lie (compare etymology 1, verb etymology 1, verb sense 2.3).

      • For if Birhena could haue held him backe, / From Venus Court where he now nouſled was, / His luſtie limbes had neuer found the lacke / Of manly ſhape: […]
      • [F]rom his birth, being hugged in the armes, / And nuzzled tvvixt the breaſtes of happineſſe
      • Oh, fool of fools, why had he been dallying with dreams—billing and cooing with his own fancies—fondling and nuzzling and coddling them?

The neighborhood

• neighbornursle