From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishnose around (something) (also nose about (something) British English) phrasal verb informalto look around a place in order to try to find something, when there is no one else there What were you doing nosing around in my office? → nose→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
nose around • Archie was bound to nose around in it, but wouldn't interfere with the contents.• Several reporters have been nosing around on the subject. 