smells

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular present of smell.

   The old cellar smells faintly of damp stone and wine.

   A trained sommelier smells a wine carefully before tasting it.

   Note

   A verb that runs two ways. A sommelier smells the wine, taking an object, while a cellar smells of damp stone, linking its subject to a description with of or like. With nothing after it, as in the fridge smells, it usually means it stinks, and figuratively a scheme can smell of trouble. The spelling it shares with the plural noun is told apart by what follows.

   Open a window; the whole bathroom smells.

   The offer is too generous, and the whole deal smells like a trap.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of smell.

   The garden filled the evening air with the smells of jasmine and cut grass.

   Certain smells can bring back vivid childhood memories in an instant.

   Note

   The countable noun at work: in the plural it names distinct odors that can be told apart, as in the smells of jasmine and cut grass, while the singular can also stay uncountable, as in a keen sense of smell. The same spelling is the verb's present form. The smells of the kitchen is a noun phrase, but the kitchen smells is a full clause, and the words around it decide which you are reading.

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