foresmell

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From fore- +‎ smell.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

foresmell (plural foresmells)

  1. A smell which precedes or comes before something.
    • 1972, Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things, McGraw-Hill, published 1972, page 10:
      His father, a man of sixty, shorter than Hugh and also pudgier, had aged unappetizingly during his recent widowhood; his things let off a characteristic foresmell, faint but unmistakable, and he grunted and sighed in his sleep, dreaming of large unwieldy blocks of blackness [...].

Verb

[edit]

foresmell (third-person singular simple present foresmells, present participle foresmelling, simple past and past participle foresmelt)

  1. (transitive) To smell in advance.
    • 1855, Fred Folio, Lucy Boston, Shepard, Clark & Co., page 291:
      "I do not foresmell any immediate harm to thee from the harness, but as you might run a risk in using it, perhaps it will be safest for me to take it," said the Medium.