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Glite Dictionary
to rootle

to rootle

9.9
To push the nose into the ground to find food, like pigs do
  • verb
  • /ˈruːtəl/
  • UK
translation icon : hurgar
  • At the farm, the curious piglets loved to rootle through the straw to find food.

Examples

  • The pig began to rootle in the mud for truffles.

  • After the rain, the wild boar started to rootle in the wet soil for tasty roots.

  • - You mustn't rootle about in dustbins, however nice they smell.

    The Plague Dogs (1982)

  • Chen let the chimp rootle around in his hair and pull his nose, and I watched, darting my gaze over to the cats every ten seconds or so.

    Fiction book (1994)

Synonyms

to root
vsto rootle
14 9.0

To dig in the ground with the nose, as pigs do

shares identical meaning and use
to rout
vsto rootle
  • UK
1 9.5

Dig in the ground with the nose to find food, like a pig

is the same digging action using the animal nose
to snout
vsto rootle
8.1

To look for food by pushing the nose into the ground

focuses on food rather than objects when used
to grub
vsto rootle
8.2

To dig in the ground or search through things with hands

is specific to using the animal nose to find food not hands

Antonyms

to leave alone
∞ 2.3

To avoid touching and disturbing a person, animal or object

How Vigorous

to dig
912 1.0
to rootle
  • UK
9.9
to rummage
35 3.8
to snuffle
1 7.5
to nuzzle
11 3.4

Surface Forms

rootle infinitive
rootled past
rootled past participle
rootling present participle
rootles third person singular

Morphology

rootle = root (transparent) = root + le

Verb formed from the verb 'root' with the productive verbalizing suffix '-le', yielding the meaning 'to root around'.

Etymology

Rootle comes from the same idea as the simple word root, here meaning 'to dig' in the ground. So to rootle is to dig with the nose, like a pig searching for food.