nuzzle
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: derivation
Etymology: PIE word
 *néh₂s
The verb is derived from Middle English noselen (“to bend down”); further etymology uncertain, possibly:
* a back-formation from noseling, noselyng (“on the back, supine; with the face downward, prone”, adverb), from nose (“nose”) (from Old English nosu, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *néh₂s (“nose”)) + -ling, -lyng (suffix forming adverbs denoting direction, manner, or position); or
* from nose (see above) + -el, -elen (diminutive or frequentative suffix) (in which case the English word is, by surface analysis, nose + -le (frequentative suffix)).
Etymology 1, verb sense 2.3 (“to settle or lie comfortably and snugly”) is possibly influenced by nestle or nursle (frequentative of nurse).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Compare nozzle.
Inflected forms:
form: nuzzles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: nuzzling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: nuzzled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: nuzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: nuzzle
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: nuzzle
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: nuzzled
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: nuzzle
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: nuzzlest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: nuzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: nuzzledst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: nuzzles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: nuzzleth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: nuzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: nuzzle
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: nuzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: nuzzle
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: nuzzled
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: nuzzle
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: nuzzling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: nuzzled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: nosel
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: nousel
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: nousle
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: nowsle
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: nusle
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: nuzzles
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To push or thrust (the nose or snout, face or muzzle, or head, or an object) against or into something.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [T]he Dogge nuſling his noſe vnder the necke of the Deare, the Wolfe glad to let the Lambe lye vpon hym to kéepe him warme, the Lyon ſuffering the Aſſe to caſt hys legge ouer him: preferring one honeſt vnmannerly friende, before a number of croutching picke-thankes.
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, […]
Miſs Sprightly and you are alvvays nuzling your Heads together.
When the lions came to Rosalba, instead of devouring her with their great teeth, it was with kisses they gobbled her up! They licked her pretty feet, they nuzzled their noses in her lap, they moo'd, they seemed to say, "Dear, dear sister, don't you recollect your brothers in the forest?" And she put her pretty white arms round their tawny necks, and kissed them.
gloss: To rub or touch (someone or something) with the nose, face, etc., or an object.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
Within a couple of hours, pictures of General B nuzzling Kitty Jackson were being posted and traded on the Web.
gloss: Chiefly of an animal: to dig (something, especially food) out of the ground using the nose or snout; to root.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: 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.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The bird nuzzled up to the wires of the cage.
Tis true, tis true, thus vvas Adonis ſlaine, / He ran vpon the Boare vvith his ſharpe ſpeare, / VVho vvould not vvhet his teeth at him againe, / But by a kiſſe thought to perſvvade him there. / And nouſling in his flanke the louing ſvvine, / Sheath'd vnavvare his tuske in his ſoft groine.
[N]ature hath ſo placed the dug, that as it endeth one vvay in a ſpongeous kinde of fleſh full of ſmall pipes, and made of purpoſe to tranſmit the milke, and let it diſtill gently by many little pores and ſecret paſſages, ſo it yeeldeth a nipple in maner of a faucet, very fit and ready for the little babes mouth, about vvhich to nuzzle and nudgell vvith it[s] prety lips it taketh pleaſure, and loveth to be tugging and lugging of it; […]
[T]he Lineaments of the Countenance are diſtorted by the Natives […] carrying them [infants] on their backs, nuzzling vvith their Face againſt the Mother's Shoulders.
Let Courtly VVits to VVits afford ſupply, / As Hog to Hog in huts of VVeſtphaly; / If one, thro' Nature's Bounty or his Lord's, / Has vvhat the frugal, dirty ſoil affords, / From him the next receives it, thick or thin, / As pure a meſs almoſt as it came in; / The bleſſed benefit, not there confin'd, / Drops to the third, vvho nuzzles cloſe behind; / From tail to mouth, they feed and they carouſe: / The laſt full fairly gives it to the Houſe.
Help, all good fellows! See you not that I am a dead man? They [sharks] are nuzzling already at my toes!
The red mare ran to the Colonel's son, and nuzzled against his breast; […]
He walked over to Colin's sofa and put the new-born lamb quietly on his lap, and immediately the little creature turned to the warm velvet dressing-gown and began to nuzzle and nuzzle into its folds and butt its tight-curled head with soft impatience against his side.
Benjamin felt a nose nuzzling at his shoulder. He looked round. It was Clover.
Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.
gloss: Chiefly of an animal: to push the nose or snout into the ground to dig for something, especially food; to root, to rootle.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The male pigges following the damme, doe commonly ſcatter further abroade than the females doe, and will nouzle and turne vp the ground tenne or twelue paces further off from their dãmes than yͤ females do, […]
For either they be puffed vp vvith pride, / Or fraught vvith enuie that their galls do ſvvell, / Or they their dayes to ydleneſſe diuide, / Or drovvnded lie in pleaſures vvaſtefull vvell, / In vvhich like Moldvvarps [i.e., moles] nouſling ſtill they lurke, / Vnmyndfull of chiefe parts of manlineſſe, / And do themſelues for vvant of other vvorke, / Vaine votaries of laeſie loue profeſſe, […]
[T]he vvilde bore maketh deeper rootings, becauſe he hath a longer head, and vvhen he commeth in fieldes that are ſovven, hee vvillingly follovveth one furrovve, nuſling al along the ridge vntill he come to the end of it: […]
It vvould have done your Heart good to have ſeen him charge through an Army of Lavvyers, Attornies, Clerks, and Tradeſmen; ſometimes vvith Svvord in Hand, at other Times nuzzling like an Eel in the Mud.
A grand imagination found in this flight of commerce ſomething to captivate. It vvas vvherevvithal to dazzle the eye of an eagle. It vvas not made to entice the ſmell of a mole, nuzzling and burying himſelf in his mother earth, as yours is.
Davie all this while lay with his nose almost in the fire, nuzzling among the ashes, kicking his heels, mumbling to himself, and turning the eggs as they lay in the hot embers, […]
The younger guests were talking and eating with animation; their elders were searching for tit-bits, and sniffing and grunting over their plates like sows nuzzling for acorns.
gloss: Followed by down: to settle or lie comfortably and snugly in a bed, nest, etc.; to nestle.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Intemperance therefore according to Cicero, is ſuch a kind of obedience vnto luſts, meerely repugnant to the right mind, and vnto all preſcription of reaſon, that the priuate deſires can neither be gouerned nor contained in any moderation; and thereof are tvvo parts: one vvhich exceſſiuely nuzzleth it ſelfe in delicacie, and another vvhich doth not.
[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.
Down at the corner, carols bugled steamily from a mission soup-kitchen. There's no escape from it, he thought. Turn on the radio, and its alleluia licks you with tremolo tongue. In every store window flameth housegown, nuzzleth slipper.
gloss: Chiefly followed by up or with: to press affectionately against someone or something; to nestle, to snuggle.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: [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.
gloss: To come into close contact with someone or something.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To feel or probe with the fingers.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
rare
examples: 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.
gloss: An act of nuzzling (all verb senses).
pos: noun
Related words: nursle
Derived words: nuzzler
nuzzling
nuzzly
snoozle
snuzzle
Translations: