English

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Etymology 1

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From dog +‎ nose.

Verb

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

  1. To nose around like a dog, to sniff as if searching
    • 1916 February 5, Anonymous, “Hort Flug Sez”, United States Tobacco Journal Volume 85, No.8, page 17:
      While Colonel John W. Sink, th’ eminent Grand Island cigar manufacturer, was out “dog-nosing” jack rabbits th’ other night, a glee club serenaded his home for two hours without response.
    • 2017 March 17, Trent Michaels, Nightwood by Djuna Barnes” (book review)
      They come without being called, dog-nosing the air as though they sense a hard surface upon which they can lean or dash their heads.

Etymology 2

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Folk etymology of diagnose

Verb

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

  1. To diagnose
    • 1879, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, An Old Maid’s Paradise, Chatto and Windus, published 1885, page 29:
      And now here she was, wearing upon the delicate health of her hostess ; dependent upon the surgery of a more than rural doctor, who said he had dog-nosed the case ; and reduced entirely to her imagination and the daily mail (it seemed to make everything worse that it was brought five miles by a stage-coach) for any knowledge of her now sacred and absorbing interests at Fairharbor.
    • 1899, Izora Cecilia Chandler, Elvira Hopkins of Tompkin’s Corner, Wilbur B. Ketchan, page 87:
      So I dog-nosed my case, as it were, and proved to her that it was something that couldn’t be reached by boneset tea.

Etymology 3

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Adjective

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dog-nose (not comparable)

  1. Related to a dog’s nose
    • 2011, Toni Johnstone, Dogified: A Poodle's Memoir, Tate Publishing, page 121:
      He would smash his face into the doors at the end of his walks, trying to hasten their opening, and leave his little brown dog-nose smudges at his level.
    • 2011, Amy Fernandez, Maltese, Kennel Club Books, page 72:
      Hang a bell from your doorknob at dog-nose height.

Anagrams

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