nose out

nose out (third-person singular simple present noses out, present participle nosing out, simple past and past participle nosed out)

1. (transitive, informal) To find using one's sense of smell.
   • 2011 September 12, Yogesh Avasthi, “It’s a dog’s life for railway sniffers”, in Ahmedabad Mirror‎:

     Trained to nose out anything from a hidden handgun to a cache of dynamite, the dogs are employed to check important trains like Rajdhani Express or Ashram Express when they arrive at the platform.

   • 1837, Charles F. Partington, The british cyclopedia of natural history:

     In the second place, do sharks really follow ships, when there are corpses on board, more than they do at other times ? and if so, by what particular organisation does a fish in the water continue to nose out the particular origin and direction of an effluvium...

2. (transitive, informal, figuratively) To find by searching.
3. (transitive, informal) To defeat by a small margin.
   • 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post‎:

     We were nosed out for the pennant that year,

   • 2011 September 3, Ron Gierkink, “Atlantic Hurricane beats Embur's Song”, in ESPN‎:

     Rashnaa nosed out Amiable Grace to finish a distant third in a field reduced to seven after the scratches of Comic Marvel and Dance to the Moon...

• (find by sense of smell): sniff out
• (find by searching): sniff out
• (defeat by a small margin): edge out