SMELL • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Smell

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/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.

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Etymology of 'Smell'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Smell" Quotes from Famous Books

... suffering, yes dying, of Least Common Multiple and Greatest Common Divisor; I who struck the shackles from the slave and told him to skip it all and go on to something easier, like Fractions, Percentage, and Compound Interest, as I did myself. Oh! How he used to smell of the cows when I was correcting his sums on warm evenings, but I don't regret it, for he is now the joy of Limerick and the pride of Riverboro, and I suppose has forgotten the proper side on which to approach a cow if you wish to milk her. This now unserviceable ...

— New Chronicles of Rebecca • Kate Douglas Wiggin

... "that is one of the errors of your closet-naturalists—your Buffons and Cuviers—propagated by them, until it has become proverbial. Strange to say, it is altogether erroneous. It has been proved that vultures possess the sense of smell in a less degree even than most other creatures. Dogs and wolves far excel them in ...

— The Boy Hunters • Captain Mayne Reid

... his life wholly in his garden: there he studied, there he exercised, there he taught his philosophy; and, indeed, no other sort of abode seems to contribute so much to both the tranquillity of mind and indolence of body, which he made his chief ends. The sweetness of the air, the pleasantness of smell, the verdure of plants, the cleanness and lightness of food, the exercise of working or walking, but, above all, the exemption from cares and solicitude, seem equally to favour and improve both contemplation and health, the enjoyment ...

— Henry Esmond; The English Humourists; The Four Georges • William Makepeace Thackeray

... of a bounteous year of fruit. The smell of peaches and grapes piled in barrows and barrels scented the air, as it scents the memory still. The odour of a peach brings back to me all the magic-lantern impressions of a stranger—memories of dazzling, ...

— Stories of Achievement, Volume IV (of 6) - Authors and Journalists • Various

... wintry night and thick tempest to recall the warmth and odor of that moist September morning, the smell of the dripping roses overhead, the balmy humidity of every breath she drew? What in her present companion that reminded her of the loving clasp that had thrilled her heart into palpitation? the earnest depth of the eyes that held hers during the ...

— At Last • Marion Harland

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