November.30 NPR Books introduces Emily Dickingson’s poems on leftover envelopes under the title, “Emily Dickinson's Envelope Writings”
“Readers always seem to want to get closer to Emily Dickinson, the
godmother of American poetry. Paging through her poems feels like
burrowing nose-deep in her 19th century backyard — where "the grass
divides as with a comb," as she writes in "A narrow Fellow in the
Grass."
As I was interested in the phrase, “burrow nose deep in sth,” I checked both Cambridge and Oxford English dictionary to find whether it’s an idiom or not. Neither of them carries “burrow nose deep” as an idiom.
However, I found some of examples using “burrow (one’s) nose deep:
“If Obama replaces her with an accursed DINO who will burrow his nose deep between Bankster cheeks, it will be because that's what he wants to do, not because it's what he has to do. – www.politicsplus.org/…/will-warren-or-a-dino-head-th…
“Where do I live if not in your woods? I burrow nose deep in dead leaves and silt soil by the river's edge. Your crows march wicked sentinel steps.”- gilliancornwall.blogspot.com
Does “burrow nose-deep” literally mean “dig in / bury deeply,” or have other figurative meanings like intimacy? To me “burrow nose-deep” in episodes of Emily Dickinson and Obama’s replacement of staff appear to be used in different meaning?
Is it an idiom or simple combination of “burrow” and "nose deep.”?
Best Answer
I think it is an allusion to the behaviour of farmyard animals. In the first case it is probably cows, and in the third case probably pigs, with both meant with some affection. In the Obama case it is meant disparagingly, and refers to Dino "kissing the asses of bankers"