sniff around


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Related to sniff around: feel up to, make into, get up to, have over

sniff around

To investigate, search through, or inquire impertinently into something or some place. Please tell me that the cops won't find any incriminating evidence if they start sniffing around your office. Sarah's been sniffing around, lately—I think she's starting to suspect me. I started sniffing around the senator's campaign records and discovered a vast conspiracy of fraud and embezzlement.
See also: around, sniff

sniff around

v.
To pry; snoop: The reporters came sniffing around for more details. The detectives sniffed around the basement for clues. The guard caught them sniffing around in the room where the files are kept.
See also: around, sniff
References in periodicals archive ?
Once you drop that bone, you can sniff around in all these other places -- which I do.
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In March 1993, Special Report magazine used an EPA-approved lab to sniff around for 93 contaminants.
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Stocks trade hands, brokers start racking up commissions, investment bankers start selling deals again, financial printers start putting in overtime, and journalists sniff around for new trends.
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In effect, Rechnitz is using the crab's version of the human nose to sniff around in solutions for dissolved biomolecules.
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Now the AC Milans of this world and Juventuses, all of them, now that they have seen this happen they will know that this is a time when they can come and sniff around Arsenal.
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