[f. SMELL v.]
1. The sense of smell. Cf. SMELL sb. 1.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 75. Hore loking, hore blawing, hore smelling, heore feling wes al iattret.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 13. Sihðe & heringe, smecchunge & smeallunge.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17017. Hering, sight, smelling and fele.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Cor. xii. 17. If al the body be heeringe, where is smellinge.
1426. Audelay, Poems, 7. Thi heryng, thi seyng,… thi smellyng, here be iij [senses].
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 1444. It was odour wondir swete, Þat þar with his smellyng mete.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546), I ij b. He had a good and a quycke smellyng.
1592. Wyrley, Armory, Ld. Chandos, 95. Sweet is fresh aire to lost prisoners smelling.
1633. Bp. Hall, Occas. Medit., § 93. Smelling, is one of the meanest, and least useful of the senses.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. III.), 101. I have lost as well my smelling as my taste.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., Pref. C. Smelling seems to be made by some such way…. It seems capable of being improv’d.
1710. Brit. Apollo, III. No. 72. 3/1.
| But that he lost his Smelling, much we doubt, | |
| Because, we fear, by this, he’s smelt you out. |
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), III. 105. His senses of smelling and bearing are in no less perfection.
b. The act or fact of smelling. Also with out.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXIV. (Percy Soc.), 109. Whan that the nose therof hath smellinge.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Odor, The smellyng … of a thyng.
1611. Cotgr., Halenement,… a smelling, or searching out.
1709. Tatler, No. 66, ¶ 15. They cannot ever after come to the Use of their Teeth, or get smelling of a Crust.
1869. H. Spencer, Princ. Psychol., III. iv. I. (1872), 304. Smelling obviously implies the contact of dispersed particles with a specially modified part of the organism.
1893. Daily News, 20 Sept., 5/4. A smelling-out case by witch doctors, whose arts were practised with the result that Lobengula put to death Umhlaba.
1899. Rider Haggard, Swallow, ix. She never took part in the ‘smelling-out’ of human beings for witchcraft.
† 2. Odor, scent, smell. Obs.
13[?]. K. Alis., 2573 (Laud MS.). Swete is þe smellyng of þe flore.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Can. Yeom. Prol., 337 (Harl.). Lo, þus by smellyng and by þredbare array If þat men list, þis folk þey knowe may.
c. 1480. J. Watton, Spec. Christiani, 46 b. Ther of come swete smellyng; Sweter felt neuer man here lyuyng.
1483. Cath. Angl., 346/1. A Smellynge, odor.
1611. Cotgr., Senteur, sent, odor, smelling, sauor.
3. attrib. † a. Smelling cheat (see quots.). Cant.
1567. Harman, Caveat, 84. A smelling chete, a garden or orchard.
1610. [see SMELLER 2 a].
b. Smelling-hair, -organ, etc. (cf. SMELLER 3).
1596. Nashe, Saffron Walden, Ep. Ded. Almost as slender … as a Catts smelling haires.
1871. Darwin, Desc. Man, II. ix. 328. Thread-like bodies, which are believed to act as smelling-organs. Ibid. (1872), Orig. Spec. (ed. 6), ii. 33. The other has antennæ much more abundantly furnished with smelling-hairs.
c. Smelling-bottle, a phial or small bottle for containing smelling-salts or perfume ready for use.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl. (1815), 259. My sister began to … use her smelling-bottle.
1827. Scott, Surg. Dau., Concl. When tea had been carried round, handkerchiefs and smelling bottles prepared [etc.].
1842. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 150. He … bought me a very nice smelling-bottle.
1871. M. Collins, Marq. & Merch., III. xii. 285. Ethel’s smelling-bottle revived one or two … ladies.
d. Smelling-salts, a preparation of carbonate of ammonia and scent for smelling, used as a restorative in cases of faintness or headache.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xlvi. Vinegar, hartshorn, and smelling-salts.
1892. Mrs. Clifford, Aunt Anne, I. 35. She thought he was ill, and … offered him some smelling-salts.
