nuzzle

verb

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

   “[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.”

2. (transitive)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.”

   “Within a couple of hours, pictures of General B nuzzling Kitty Jackson were being posted and traded on the Web.”

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

   “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.”

5. (intransitive)Chiefly of an animal: to push the nose or snout into the ground to dig for something, especially food; to root, to rootle.

   “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.”

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

   “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.”

7. (intransitive)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.”

8. (figuratively, intransitive)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.”

9. (intransitive, obsolete, rare)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.”

10. (also, obsolete, reflexive, transitive)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.”

    “[S]ome turne agayne by grace frõ their deadly hereſies into yͤ life of faith, ⁊ ſome be ſo ſore nowſeled in the falſe hereſies, ⁊ in their obſtinate frowardneſſe take ſuch a deueliſhe delight, yͭ finally thei die therin as did Baifield, Bainã, ⁊ Tewkeſbury.”

    “[T]he [thee] Ariſtippus, who beyng longe noſilled in worldly pleaſures, wilt not admitte, that any thynge, whiche is therunto contrarie, maie be expedient or neceſſarie vnto a man, that is vertuous, and lacketh ſuch vice, whiche requireth ſharpe admonicion: […]”

    “[Jesus] dyd grone agayne, and faced euill with hymſelfe, exemplyfying in hymſelfe verely the thyng whiche ought to be exhibite in vs if we will eftſones repente vs of the euilles and returne from the ſame, wherin we haue long tyme nuſſeled our ſelues.”

    “I take no ioy in ſtriving, I haue not beene nozled or trained vp in it.”

11. (also, obsolete, reflexive, transitive)Often followed by up '''or ''with: to nurture or train (oneself or someone) to act a certain way, have certain beliefs, etc.
12. (also, obsolete, reflexive, transitive)Chiefly followed by up: to bring up (someone); to foster, to rear; also, to educate (someone); to train.

    “This onely they beſought at their hands, and admoniſhed them of, by vvay of a proviſo, they they vvould take order for the ſafetie and ſecuritie of their perſons: and not by ſheading their bloud, to fleſh the Commons, and to nuzzle them up, and acquaint them vvith exerciſing crueltie upon the Nobles and Senatours.”

13. (also, literary, obsolete, reflexive, transitive)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?”

noun

1. An act of nuzzling (all verb senses).