See smell a rat in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
Download JSON data for smell a rat meaning in English (6.9kB)
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "smells a rat",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "smelling a rat",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "smelt a rat",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "smelt a rat",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "smelled a rat",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "smelled a rat",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "smell<,,smelt:> a rat"
},
"expansion": "smell a rat (third-person singular simple present smells a rat, present participle smelling a rat, simple past and past participle smelt a rat or smelled a rat)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
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"name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English predicates",
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"parents": [
"Terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1776 February, “a Lady”, “A Sentimental Journey”, in The Lady's Magazine; or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to their Use and Enjoyment, London: Printed for G. Robinson, No. 25, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page 62, column 2",
"text": "[O]ur conjectures were like arrows ſhot in the dark—they were wide of the mark—till an old gentleman came into the room, who after affixing his ſpectacles on the ſuperior part of an aquiline noſe, told us—\"he ſmelt a rat!\" / \"He ſmelt a rat!\" and ſhaking his head with all the ſolemnity of Attic ſagacity—whiſpered to the perſon next his elbow, / \"I know it!\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1873 July 19 – 1874 January 10, Anthony Trollope, “The Prime Minister is Hard Pressed”, in Phineas Redux, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons, December 1874, →OCLC, page 335",
"text": "Mr. Gresham, when he heard this, thought that he began to smell a rat, and was determined to be on his guard."
},
{
"ref": "2007, Alex Boese, Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments, Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt",
"text": "[John Broadus] Watson would have liked to continue his infant studies, but he never had the chance. His wife smelled a rat and found out his affair with his graduate student assistant, Rosalie Rayner.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Russell L. Kaldenberg, “Being a US Government Cultural Resource Manager”, in Thomas F. King, editor, A Companion to Cultural Resource Management (Blackwell Companions to Anthropology; 17), Chichester, West Sussex, Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell",
"text": "Eventually, the job was re-advertised and she applied for it. She applied repeatedly over several years, but was never selected. She began smelling a rat (this being a land managing agency, a woodrat). She did some checking and found out that contrary to its promises, the agency had done all it could to \"blackball\" her from working in federal service again.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Thomas S. Kidd, “Defending the Revolution by Opposing the Constitution”, in Patrick Henry: First among Patriots, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books",
"text": "One anecdote holds that when a pro-Constitution opponent demanded to know why [Patrick] Henry had not attended the convention, he replied, \"I smelt a rat.\" Henry scented that decaying rodent in the notion that the states should surrender more power to a new national government.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2015, Mary Brendan, chapter 2, in Tarnished, Tempted and Tamed (Mills & Boon Regency), Richmond, Surrey: Mills & Boon",
"text": "If Collins smells a rat, you might gain nothing and tempt the gang to persecute you and your daughter.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To sense something suspicious."
],
"id": "en-smell_a_rat-en-verb-Cq-2Y5EQ",
"links": [
[
"sense",
"sense#Verb"
],
[
"suspicious",
"suspicious"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To sense something suspicious."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "fishy"
},
{
"word": "nose test"
},
{
"word": "smell test"
},
{
"word": "smell a fox"
}
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "mít zlou předtuchu"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "tušit zradu"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "haistaa palaneen käryä"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "epäilyttää"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"english": "there’s an eel under the rock",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "y avoir anguille sous roche"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "den Braten riechen"
},
{
"code": "it",
"english": "the cat is hiding something",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "gatta ci cova"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "mangiare la foglia"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "farsi furbo"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "sentire puzza di bruciato"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "ane ugler i mosen"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "czuć pismo nosem"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "oler a gato encerrado"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "haber gato encerrado"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "olerse la tostada"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"english": "to sense owls in the marsh",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "ana ugglor i mossen"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "bityeniği sezmek"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "hile kokusu almak"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "kuşkulanmak"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmɛl ə ˈɹæt/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "en-au-smell a rat.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-au-smell_a_rat.ogg/En-au-smell_a_rat.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-au-smell_a_rat.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"word": "smell a rat"
}
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "smells a rat",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "smelling a rat",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "smelt a rat",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "smelt a rat",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "smelled a rat",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "smelled a rat",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "smell<,,smelt:> a rat"
},
"expansion": "smell a rat (third-person singular simple present smells a rat, present participle smelling a rat, simple past and past participle smelt a rat or smelled a rat)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"related": [
{
"word": "fishy"
},
{
"word": "nose test"
},
{
"word": "smell test"
},
{
"word": "smell a fox"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English predicates",
"English terms with IPA pronunciation",
"English terms with audio links",
"English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
"English terms with quotations",
"English verbs"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1776 February, “a Lady”, “A Sentimental Journey”, in The Lady's Magazine; or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to their Use and Enjoyment, London: Printed for G. Robinson, No. 25, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page 62, column 2",
"text": "[O]ur conjectures were like arrows ſhot in the dark—they were wide of the mark—till an old gentleman came into the room, who after affixing his ſpectacles on the ſuperior part of an aquiline noſe, told us—\"he ſmelt a rat!\" / \"He ſmelt a rat!\" and ſhaking his head with all the ſolemnity of Attic ſagacity—whiſpered to the perſon next his elbow, / \"I know it!\"",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "1873 July 19 – 1874 January 10, Anthony Trollope, “The Prime Minister is Hard Pressed”, in Phineas Redux, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons, December 1874, →OCLC, page 335",
"text": "Mr. Gresham, when he heard this, thought that he began to smell a rat, and was determined to be on his guard."
},
{
"ref": "2007, Alex Boese, Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments, Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt",
"text": "[John Broadus] Watson would have liked to continue his infant studies, but he never had the chance. His wife smelled a rat and found out his affair with his graduate student assistant, Rosalie Rayner.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Russell L. Kaldenberg, “Being a US Government Cultural Resource Manager”, in Thomas F. King, editor, A Companion to Cultural Resource Management (Blackwell Companions to Anthropology; 17), Chichester, West Sussex, Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell",
"text": "Eventually, the job was re-advertised and she applied for it. She applied repeatedly over several years, but was never selected. She began smelling a rat (this being a land managing agency, a woodrat). She did some checking and found out that contrary to its promises, the agency had done all it could to \"blackball\" her from working in federal service again.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Thomas S. Kidd, “Defending the Revolution by Opposing the Constitution”, in Patrick Henry: First among Patriots, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books",
"text": "One anecdote holds that when a pro-Constitution opponent demanded to know why [Patrick] Henry had not attended the convention, he replied, \"I smelt a rat.\" Henry scented that decaying rodent in the notion that the states should surrender more power to a new national government.",
"type": "quotation"
},
{
"ref": "2015, Mary Brendan, chapter 2, in Tarnished, Tempted and Tamed (Mills & Boon Regency), Richmond, Surrey: Mills & Boon",
"text": "If Collins smells a rat, you might gain nothing and tempt the gang to persecute you and your daughter.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To sense something suspicious."
],
"links": [
[
"sense",
"sense#Verb"
],
[
"suspicious",
"suspicious"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic) To sense something suspicious."
],
"tags": [
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"ipa": "/ˈsmɛl ə ˈɹæt/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
]
},
{
"audio": "en-au-smell a rat.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/2/25/En-au-smell_a_rat.ogg/En-au-smell_a_rat.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/En-au-smell_a_rat.ogg",
"tags": [
"Australia"
],
"text": "Audio (AU)"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "mít zlou předtuchu"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "tušit zradu"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "haistaa palaneen käryä"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "epäilyttää"
},
{
"code": "fr",
"english": "there’s an eel under the rock",
"lang": "French",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "y avoir anguille sous roche"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "den Braten riechen"
},
{
"code": "it",
"english": "the cat is hiding something",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "gatta ci cova"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "mangiare la foglia"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "farsi furbo"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "sentire puzza di bruciato"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "ane ugler i mosen"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "czuć pismo nosem"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "oler a gato encerrado"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "haber gato encerrado"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "olerse la tostada"
},
{
"code": "sv",
"english": "to sense owls in the marsh",
"lang": "Swedish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "ana ugglor i mossen"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "bityeniği sezmek"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "hile kokusu almak"
},
{
"code": "tr",
"lang": "Turkish",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"word": "kuşkulanmak"
}
],
"word": "smell a rat"
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-05 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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