See smell a rat in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"forms": [
{
"form": "smells a rat",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
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]
},
{
"form": "smelling a rat",
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"participle",
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},
{
"form": "smelt a rat",
"tags": [
"participle",
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{
"form": "smelt a rat",
"tags": [
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "smelled a rat",
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"participle",
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]
},
{
"form": "smelled a rat",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
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"args": {
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},
"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": [
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"examples": [
{
"ref": "1667 (revival performance), John Dryden, The Wild Gallant: A Comedy. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] Newcomb for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1669, →OCLC, Act IV, page 45:",
"text": "Oh, Are you thereabouts, Sir; then I ſmell a Rat Ifaith; but I'll ſay nothing.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"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": "quote"
},
{
"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, →ISBN:",
"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": "quote"
},
{
"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, →ISBN:",
"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": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Thomas S. Kidd, “Defending the Revolution by Opposing the Constitution”, in Patrick Henry: First among Patriots, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN:",
"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": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2015, Mary Brendan, chapter 2, in Tarnished, Tempted and Tamed (Mills & Boon Regency), Richmond, Surrey: Mills & Boon, →ISBN:",
"text": "If Collins smells a rat, you might gain nothing and tempt the gang to persecute you and your daughter.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"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": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"tags": [
"Portugal"
],
"word": "cheirar a esturro"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"tags": [
"Brazil"
],
"word": "ter caroço nesse angu"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"tags": [
"Portugal"
],
"word": "haver gato (aqui)"
},
{
"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"
}
]
}
],
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"ipa": "/ˈsmɛl ə ˈɹæt/",
"tags": [
"Received-Pronunciation"
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"word": "smell a rat"
}
{
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"form": "smells a rat",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
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},
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"form": "smelling a rat",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "smelt a rat",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
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},
{
"form": "smelt a rat",
"tags": [
"past"
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},
{
"form": "smelled a rat",
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"past"
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},
{
"form": "smelled a rat",
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"head_templates": [
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},
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"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 idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English predicates",
"English terms with quotations",
"English verbs",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Portuguese links with redundant wikilinks",
"Terms with Czech translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with French translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Portuguese translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations",
"Terms with Swedish translations",
"Terms with Turkish translations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1667 (revival performance), John Dryden, The Wild Gallant: A Comedy. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] Newcomb for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1669, →OCLC, Act IV, page 45:",
"text": "Oh, Are you thereabouts, Sir; then I ſmell a Rat Ifaith; but I'll ſay nothing.",
"type": "quote"
},
{
"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": "quote"
},
{
"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, →ISBN:",
"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": "quote"
},
{
"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, →ISBN:",
"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": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2011, Thomas S. Kidd, “Defending the Revolution by Opposing the Constitution”, in Patrick Henry: First among Patriots, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN:",
"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": "quote"
},
{
"ref": "2015, Mary Brendan, chapter 2, in Tarnished, Tempted and Tamed (Mills & Boon Regency), Richmond, Surrey: Mills & Boon, →ISBN:",
"text": "If Collins smells a rat, you might gain nothing and tempt the gang to persecute you and your daughter.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"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"
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"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": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"tags": [
"Portugal"
],
"word": "cheirar a esturro"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"tags": [
"Brazil"
],
"word": "ter caroço nesse angu"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"sense": "to sense something suspicious",
"tags": [
"Portugal"
],
"word": "haver gato (aqui)"
},
{
"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"
}
Download raw JSONL data for smell a rat meaning in English (7.6kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (7c21d10 and f2e72e5). 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.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.