■ noun
1》 the faculty of perceiving odours by means of the organs in the nose.
2》 a quality in something that is perceived by this faculty; an odour.
↘an unpleasant odour.
3》 an act of inhaling in order to ascertain an odour.
■ verb ( past and past participle smelt or ~ed )
1》 perceive or detect the odour of.
↘sniff at (something) in order to ascertain its odour.
↘( ~ something out ) detect or discover something by the faculty of ~.
↘detect or suspect by means of instinct or intuition.
2》 emit an odour of a specified kind.
↘have a strong or unpleasant odour.
↘be suggestive of something.
Phrases
~ a rat informal suspect trickery.
Derivatives
~able adjective
~er noun
-~ing adjective
Origin
ME: of unknown origin.