Hypertext Webster Gateway: "smell"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Smell \Smell\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Smelled}, {Smelt}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Smelling}.] [OE. smellen, smillen, smullen; cf. LG.
smellen, smelen, sm["o]len, schmelen, to smoke, to reek, D.
smeulen to smolder, and E. smolder. Cf. {Smell}, n.]
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.''
--Shak.
Can you smell him out by that? --Shak.
3. To give heed to. [Obs.]
From that time forward I began to smellthe Word of
God, and forsook the school doctors. --Latimer.
{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.]
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Smell \Smell\, v. i.
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. --Milton.
3. To exercise the sense of smell. --Ex. xxx. 38.
4. To exercise sagacity. --Shak.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Smell \Smell\, n. [OE. smel, smil, smul, smeol. See {Smell}, v.
t.] (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. --Milton.
That which, above all others, yields the sweetest
smell in the air, is the violent. --Bacon.
Syn: Scent; odor; perfume; fragrance.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
smell
n 1: the sensation that results when olfactory receptors in the
nose are stimulated by particular chemicals in gaseous
form; "she loved the smell of roses" [syn: {odor}, {odour},
{olfactory sensation}, {olfactory perception}]
2: any property detected by the olfactory system [syn: {olfactory
property}, {aroma}, {odor}, {odour}, {scent}]
3: the general atmosphere of a place or situation and the
effect that it has on people; "the feel of the city
excited him"; "a clergyman improved the tone of the
meeting"; "it had the smell of treason" [syn: {spirit}, {tone},
{feel}, {feeling}, {flavor}, {flavour}, {look}]
4: the faculty of smell [syn: {sense of smell}, {olfaction}, {olfactory
modality}]
5: the act of perceiving the odor of something [syn: {smelling}]
v 1: inhale the odor of; perceive by the olfactory sense
2: emit an odor; "The soup smells good"
3: smell bad; "He rarely washes, and he smells"
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.