Smell is one of your five senses—the one you use your nose for. Dogs have such a sharp sense of smell that they can sniff out things like explosives and drugs. Your sense of smell gives you important information, like "this milk is sour," or "I need a shower."
smell, scent, odor, aroma mean the quality that makes a thing perceptible to the olfactory sense. smell implies solely the sensation without suggestion of quality or character.
The importance and sensitivity of smell varies among different organisms; most mammals have a good sense of smell, whereas most birds do not, except the tubenoses (e.g., petrels and albatrosses), certain species of new world vultures, and the kiwis.
SMELL definition: 1. to have a particular quality that others can notice with their noses: 2. to notice or discover…. Learn more.
olfactory system, the bodily structures that serve the sense of smell. The system consists of the nose and the nasal cavities, which in their upper parts support the olfactory mucous membrane for the perception of smell and in their lower parts act as respiratory passages.
Overview of smell, which is one of the five special senses involving the transduction of chemical stimuli into electrical signals. The sense of smell, known as olfaction, is a specialized sensory function allowing for the detection and interpretation of odors.
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. [VERB noun]
smell (third-person singular simple present smells, present participle smelling, simple past and past participle smelled or smelt) (transitive) To sense a smell or smells.