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Smell   /smɛl/   Listen
noun
Smell  n.  (Physiol.)
1.
The sense or faculty by which certain qualities of bodies are perceived through the instrumentally of the olfactory nerves. See Sense.
2.
The quality of any thing or substance, or emanation therefrom, which affects the olfactory organs; odor; scent; fragrance; perfume; as, the smell of mint. "Breathing the smell of field and grove." "That which, above all others, yields the sweetest smell in the air, is the violent."
Synonyms: Scent; odor; perfume; fragrance.


verb
Smell  v. t.  (past & past part. smelt or smelled; pres. part. smelling)  
1.
To perceive by the olfactory nerves, or organs of smell; to have a sensation of, excited through the nasal organs when affected by the appropriate materials or qualities; to obtain the scent of; as, to smell a rose; to smell perfumes.
2.
To detect or perceive, as if by the sense of smell; to scent out; often with out. "I smell a device." "Can you smell him out by that?"
3.
To give heed to. (Obs.) "From that time forward I began to smellthe Word of God, and forsook the school doctors."
To smell a rat, to have a sense of something wrong, not clearly evident; to have reason for suspicion. (Colloq.)
To smell out, to find out by sagacity. (Colloq.)


Smell  v. i.  (past & past part. smelt or smelled; pres. part. smelling)  
1.
To affect the olfactory nerves; to have an odor or scent; often followed by of; as, to smell of smoke, or of musk.
2.
To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savor; as, a report smells of calumny. "Praises in an enemy are superfluous, or smell of craft."
3.
To exercise the sense of smell.
4.
To exercise sagacity.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Smell" Quotes from Famous Books



... sweet sleep and pleasant dreams; and sometimes there are the sweet surprises along life's highway; the sudden song of birds or burst of sunshine; the glory of the sunrise, and sunset, and the flash of bluebirds' wings across the road, and the smell of ...
— In Times Like These • Nellie L. McClung
... his nervous system was wrought up to a pitch of frenzy. He would rush from the cabin, climb along the hill-side, run leaping from rock to rock, now and then screaming like a maniac. Then he would rush back to the cabin, seize a plug of tobacco, smell it, rub it against his lips, and away he would go again. He smelt, but never tasted ...
— California Sketches, Second Series • O. P. Fitzgerald
... has always talked about writin' folks and poets starvin' in garrets. If you went up attic to work he'd be teasin' me from mornin' to night. Besides, you'd freeze up there, if the smell of moth-balls didn't choke you first. No, you wait; I've got a notion. There's that old table desk of Zelotes' in the settin' room. He don't hardly ever use it nowadays. You take it upstairs to your own room and work in there. You can have the ...
— The Portygee • Joseph Crosby Lincoln
... shadow of a hawthorn brake, Where bluebells draw the sky down to the wood, Where, 'mid brown leaves, the primroses awake And hidden violets smell of solitude; Beneath green leaves bright-fluttered by the wing Of fleeting, beautiful, immortal Spring, I should have said, "I love you," and your eyes Have said, "I, too . . . " ...
— Many Voices • E. Nesbit
... the narrow and cart-encumbered street, showed her at once the nature of the business of Fletcher & Co. It was something in the twine and cordage way. There were everywhere great coils of ropes and bales of twine, and the dark rooms had a tarry smell. Mr. Fletcher was in his office, a little space partitioned off in the rear, with half a dozen clerks working by gaslight, and a little sanctum where the senior partner was ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner


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