nuzzle

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English[edit]

WOTD – 6 June 2024

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

PIE word
*néh₂s

The verb is derived from Middle English noselen (“to bend down”);[1] further etymology uncertain, possibly:

Sense 2.3 (“to settle or lie comfortably and snugly”) is possibly influenced by nestle or nursle (frequentative of nurse).[8]

The noun is derived from the verb.[9]

Verb[edit]

nuzzle (third-person singular simple present nuzzles, present participle nuzzling, simple past and past participle nuzzled)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To push or thrust (the nose or snout, face or muzzle, or head, or an object) against or into something.
    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 boyfriend in the cinema.
    3. Chiefly of an animal: to dig (something, especially food) out of the ground using the nose or snout; to root.
  2. (intransitive)
    1. 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.
      • 1593, [William Shakespeare], Venus and Adonis, London: […] Richard Field, […], →OCLC; 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Field, […], 1594, →OCLC, [verse 186], signature [Giv], recto, lines [1111–1116]:
        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.
      • 1603, Plutarch, “Of the Naturall Love or Kindnes of Parents to Their Children”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Philosophie, Commonlie Called, The Morals […], London: […] Arnold Hatfield, →OCLC, page 220:
        [N]ature hath ſo placed a 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; […]
      • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Conducted by a Houyhnhnm to His House. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part IV (A Voyage to the Houyhnhnms), page [177]:
        [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.
      • 1738 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Epilogue to the Satires, in Two Dialogues. Dialogue II.”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq. […], volume IV, London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton […], published 1751, →OCLC, page 256, lines 171–179:
        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.
      • 1855, Charles Kingsley, “How They Took the Pearls at Margarita”, in Westward Ho!: Or, The Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, […], volume II, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 264:
        Help, all good fellows! See you not that I am a dead man? They [sharks] are nuzzling already at my toes!
      • 1889, Rudyard Kipling, “The Ballad of East and West”, in Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses, 3rd edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], published 1892, →OCLC, page 80:
        The red mare ran to the Colonel's son, and nuzzled against his breast; […]
      • 1910 November – 1911 August, Frances Hodgson Burnett, “‘It Has Come!’”, in The Secret Garden, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes Company, published 1911, →OCLC, page 252:
        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.
    2. Chiefly of an animal: to push the nose or snout into the ground to dig for something, especially food; to root, to rootle.
    4. Followed by down: to settle or lie comfortably and snugly in a bed, nest, etc.; to nestle.
      Synonym: snuzzle
      • 1606, Barnabe Barnes, “The First Booke of Offices”, in Foure Bookes of Offices: Enabling Privat Persons for the Speciall Seruice of All Good Princes and Policies, London: […] [Adam Islip] at the charges of George Bishop, T[homas] Adams, and C[uthbert] Burbie, →OCLC, page 16:
        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.
      • 1953 December, Hortense Calisher, “A Christmas Carillon: A Story”, in John Fischer, editor, Harper’s Magazine, volume 207, number 1243, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 38, column 1:
        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.
        A deliberate archaism.
    5. Chiefly followed by up or with: to press affectionately against someone or something; to nestle, to snuggle.
    6. (figurative) To come into close contact with someone or something.
      • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 706:
        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.
    7. (obsolete, rare) To feel or probe with the fingers.
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of nuzzle
infinitive (to) nuzzle
present tense past tense
1st-person singular nuzzle nuzzled
2nd-person singular nuzzle, nuzzlest† nuzzled, nuzzledst†
3rd-person singular nuzzles, nuzzleth† nuzzled
plural nuzzle
subjunctive nuzzle nuzzled
imperative nuzzle —
participles nuzzling nuzzled

†Archaic or obsolete.

Alternative forms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
chiefly of an animal: to dig (something, especially food) out of the ground using the nose or snout — see root
chiefly of an animal: to push the nose or snout into the ground to dig for something, especially food — see root,‎ rootle
to settle or lie comfortably and snugly in a bed, nest, etc. — see nestle
to press affectionately against someone or something — see nestle,‎ snuggle

Noun[edit]

nuzzle (plural nuzzles)

  1. An act of nuzzling (all verb senses).
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Origin uncertain; appears to have a separate origin from nuzzle (etymology 1) due to the different meanings, but probably influenced by that word.[10]

Verb[edit]

nuzzle (third-person singular simple present nuzzles, present participle nuzzling, simple past and past participle nuzzled) (transitive, also reflexive, obsolete)

  1. Often followed by up or with: to nurture or train (oneself or someone) to act a certain way, have certain beliefs, etc.
    1. (falconry, hunting) To train (a dog or hawk) to attack prey.
  2. (generally) Chiefly followed by up: to bring up (someone); to foster, to rear; also, to educate (someone); to train.
  3. (literary) 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 sense 2.3).

References[edit]

  1. ^ “nōselen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “nōseling(e, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ “nōse, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “-ling(e, suf.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ “-el-, suf.(3)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  6. ^ “nuzzle, v.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2024.
  7. ^ “nuzzle, v.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  8. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “nuzzle”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  9. ^ “nuzzle, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023.
  10. ^ “† nuzzle, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023.

Further reading[edit]

References[edit]

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