nuzzle Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position
    nest; nestle; cuddle; draw close; snuggle.
    • We cuddled against each other to keep warm
    • The children snuggled into their sleeping bags
  2. verb rub noses
    nose.
  3. verb dig out with the snout
    • the pig nuzzled the truffle

WordNet


Nuz"zle transitive verb
Etymology
See Noursle.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Nuzzied ;present participle & verbal noun Nuzzling
Definitions
  1. To noursle or nurse; to foster; to bring up. Obs.
    The people had been nuzzled in idolatry. Milton.
  2. Perh. a corruption of nestle. Cf. Nustle. To nestle; to house, as in a nest.
Nuz"zle intransitive verb
Etymology
Dim. fr. nose. See Nozzle.
Definitions
  1. To work with the nose, like a swine in the mud.
    And nuzzling in his flank, the loving swine Sheathed, unaware, the tusk in his soft groin. Shak.
    He charged through an army of lawyers, sometimes . . . nuzzling like an eel in the mud. Arbuthnot.
  2. To go with head poised like a swine, with nose down.
    Sir Roger shook his ears, and nuzzled along. Arbuthnot.
  3. Cf. Nuzzle, v. t., 2. To hide the head, as a child in the mother's bosom; to nestle.
  4. To loiter; to idle. Prov. Eng. Halliwell.

Webster 1913