smell
/smɛl/ verb B1- To sense a smell or smells. · I can smell fresh bread.· Smell the milk and tell me whether it's gone off.
- To detect or perceive; often with out.
- Followed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad. · The roses smell lovely.· Her feet smell of cheese.
- To smell of; to have a smell of
- To smell bad; to stink. · Ew, this restroom smells (loathsomely).
- To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savour. · A report smells of calumny.
He/she/it smells · Past smelled · Past participle smelled · -ing form smelling
Verb forms
- Base form
- smell
- He/she/it
- smells
- Past
- smelled
- Past participle
- smelled
- -ing form
- smelling
Phrasal verbs and expressions
From the library
Having sniffed the dead man’s lips I detected a slightly sour smell, and I came to the conclusion that he had had poison forced upon him.
I began to smell a rat.
You don’t mind the smell of strong tobacco, I hope?”
These green and sweetly smelling crops
Other matches
Learn smell in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.