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smell

noun
/smɛl/US

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *smel- Proto-West Germanic *smalljan Old English *smiellan Middle English smellen English smell From Middle English smellen, smillen, smyllen, smullen, from Old English *smyllan, *smiellan (“to smell, emit fumes”), from Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (“to glow, burn, smoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *smel- (“to burn, smoke, smoulder; tar, pitch”). The noun is from Middle English smel, smil, smul (“smell, odour”). Related to Saterland Frisian smeele (“to smoulder”), Middle Dutch smōlen (“to burn, smoulder”) (whence Dutch smeulen (“to smoulder”)), Middle Low German smölen (“to be hazy, be dusty”) (whence Low German smölen (“smoulder”)), Low German smullen (“emit smoke”), West Flemish smoel (“stuffy, muggy, hazy”), Danish smul (“dust, powder”), Lithuanian smilkyti (“to incense, fumigate”), Lithuanian smilkti (“to smudge, smolder, fume, reek”), Lithuanian smalkinti (“to fume”), Middle Irish smál, smól, smúal (“fire, gleed, embers, ashes”), Russian смола́ (smolá, “resin, tar”). Compare smoulder, smother.

  1. inherited from smel
  2. derived from *smel-✻ — “to burn, smoke, smoulder; tar, pitch”
  3. inherited from *smallijan✻ — “to glow, burn, smoulder”
  4. inherited from *smyllan✻
  5. inherited from smellen

Definitions

  1. A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of…

    A 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.

  2. The sense that detects odours.

  3. A conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or…

    A 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.
  4. ›+ 3 more definitions

    1. To sense a smell or smells.

      • I can smell fresh bread.
      • Smell the milk and tell me whether it's gone off.

    2. Followed by like or of if descriptive

      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.
      • The drunkard smelt like a brewery.

    3. To give heed to.

      • So from that tyme forwarde I began to ſmell the word of god, and forſoke the ſchole doctors and ſuch foolries.

The neighborhood

Derived

code smell, money does not smell, money has no smell, new-car smell, sense of smell, smaste, smell-alike, smell blindness, smell-brain, smell-feast, smell fox, smellful, smell-o-meter, smell-o-rama, smell-o-vision, smellproof, smellscape, smell-smock, smellsome, smell trap, sweet smell of success, foresmell, besmell, come out smelling like a rose, come out smelling of roses, come up smelling like a rose, come up smelling of roses, foul-smelling, outsmell, resmell, smellable, smell a fox, smell a rat, smell blood, smell blood in the water, smellevision, smell fishy, smellfungus, smellie, smelling bottle · +30 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at smell. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01smell02molecules03molecule04atoms05atom06particle07elementary08basic09base10thought

A definitional loop anchored at smell. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at smell

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA