(smells, smelling, smelled, smelt)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
Note: American English usually uses the form 'smelled' as the past tense and past participle. British English uses either 'smelled' or 'smelt'.
1.
The smell of something is a quality it has which you become aware of when you breathe in through your nose.
...the smell of freshly baked bread.
...horrible smells...
N-COUNT: oft N of n
2.
Your sense of smell is the ability that your nose has to detect things.
...people who lose their sense of smell.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
If something smells in a particular way, it has a quality which you become aware of through your nose.
The room smelled of lemons...
It smells delicious.
...a crumbly black substance that smells like fresh soil.
V-LINK: V of n, V adj, V like n
4.
If you say that something smells, you mean that it smells unpleasant.
Ma threw that out. She said it smelled...
Do my feet smell?
VERB: V, V
5.
If you smell something, you become aware of it when you breathe in through your nose.
As soon as we opened the front door we could smell the gas.
VERB: V n
6.
If you smell something, you put your nose near it and breathe in, so that you can discover its smell.
I took a fresh rose out of the vase on our table, and smelled it.
= sniff
VERB: V n
7.