smegmatic (smegmatik)

[ smeldet. An obsolete preterit of smell. smelite (smē'līt), n. nature or character, as indicated by the smell: generally followed by like or of. "Thou smells of a coward," said Robin Hood, "Thy words do not please me." Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow (Child's Ballads, V. 385). What say you to young Master Fenton? he capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth, he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells April and May. Shak ., M. W. of W., iii. 2. 69. These are circumstances which smell strongly of imposture and contrivance. Bp . Atterbury , Sermons, II. 1. 5. To inhale a smell or odor as a gratification or as a test of kind or quality, etc.: colloquially with of , formerly sometimes with to or unto . To pulle a rose of alle that route,... And smellen to it where I wente. Rom. of the Rose, 1. 1669. Smell to this flower; here Nature has her excellence. Fletcher (and another?), Prophete , v. 3. provided it has not lost its Sweetne . I'm not nice, nor care who plucks the Rose I smell to, Mrs. Cent livre, Platonick Lady, i. A young girl's heart, which he held in his hand, and smelled to, like a rosebud. Hawthorne, Blithe dale Romance, ix. 6. To snuff; try to smell something; figuratively, to try to smell out something: generally with about: as, to go smelling about. - A smelling committee, an investigating committee. [Colloq., U. S.] To smell of the footlights, of the lamp, of the roastt, etc. See footlights, etc.