/smɛl/
- countable, uncountableA sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
“I love the smell of fresh bread.”
“The penetrating smell of cabbage reached the nose of Toad as he lay prostrate in his misery on the floor, and gave him the idea for a moment that perhaps life was not such a blank and desperate thing ”
- countable, uncountableThe sense that detects odours.
- countable, uncountableA conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or otherwise inappropriate.
“I’m just saying, this has a bad smell to it.”
- transitiveTo sense a smell or smells.
“I can smell fresh bread.”
“Smell the milk and tell me whether it's gone off.”
- broadly, transitiveTo detect or perceive; often with out.
- copulative, intransitiveFollowed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad.
“The roses smell lovely.”
“Her feet smell of cheese.”
“The drunkard smelt like a brewery.”
- broadly, copulative, intransitiveTo smell of; to have a smell of
“I do smell all horse-piss”
- copulative, intransitiveTo smell bad; to stink.
“Ew, this restroom smells (loathsomely).”
- copulative, figuratively, intransitiveTo have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savour.
“A report smells of calumny.”
“Praises in an enemy are superfluous, or smell of craft.”
- obsoleteTo give heed to.
“So from that tyme forwarde I began to ſmell the word of god, and forſoke the ſchole doctors and ſuch foolries.”
Formssmells(plural) · smells(present, singular, third-person) · smelling(participle, present) · smelled(participle, past) · smelled(past) · smelt(participle, past) · smelt(past)