"smell like a rose" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "smells like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelling like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelt like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelt like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelled like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelled like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "smell<,,smelt:> like a rose"
      },
      "expansion": "smell like a rose (third-person singular simple present smells like a rose, present participle smelling like a rose, simple past and past participle smelt like a rose or smelled like a rose)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English similes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953 November 22, “Prison is quiet after hearing”, in Spokesman-Review, Spokane, USA, retrieved 2009-08-04, page 22",
          "text": "\"I don't suppose anyone from the director down will come out of this deal smelling like a rose,\" the warden commented, \"but our only hope is that some good will result from the hearing.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Marilyn Cannaday, Bigger than Life: The Creator of Doc Savage, page 28",
          "text": "But compared to others, Dent came out of the Depression \"smelling like a rose.\" He later boasted that he made $18,000 a year with his writing during the Depression.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 June 24, Christopher Palmeri, “Can CalPERS Afford to Throw Stones?”, in BusinessWeek, retrieved 2009-08-04",
          "text": "The champion of corporate governance should smell like a rose. Instead, there's an unpleasant whiff of pork-barrel politics rising from the board.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be regarded as appealing, virtuous, or respectable; to be untainted or unharmed."
      ],
      "id": "en-smell_like_a_rose-en-verb-qHVCvag~",
      "links": [
        [
          "appealing",
          "appealing"
        ],
        [
          "virtuous",
          "virtuous"
        ],
        [
          "respectable",
          "respectable"
        ],
        [
          "untainted",
          "untainted"
        ],
        [
          "unharmed",
          "unharmed"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial, simile) To be regarded as appealing, virtuous, or respectable; to be untainted or unharmed."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "come up roses"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "come out smelling like a rose"
        },
        {
          "word": "come out smelling of roses"
        },
        {
          "word": "come up smelling like a rose"
        },
        {
          "word": "come up smelling of roses"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-smell like a rose.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a9/En-au-smell_like_a_rose.ogg/En-au-smell_like_a_rose.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/En-au-smell_like_a_rose.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "smell like a rose"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "smells like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelling like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelt like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelt like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelled like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "smelled like a rose",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "smell<,,smelt:> like a rose"
      },
      "expansion": "smell like a rose (third-person singular simple present smells like a rose, present participle smelling like a rose, simple past and past participle smelt like a rose or smelled like a rose)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "come up roses"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English colloquialisms",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English similes",
        "English terms with audio links",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1953 November 22, “Prison is quiet after hearing”, in Spokesman-Review, Spokane, USA, retrieved 2009-08-04, page 22",
          "text": "\"I don't suppose anyone from the director down will come out of this deal smelling like a rose,\" the warden commented, \"but our only hope is that some good will result from the hearing.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1990, Marilyn Cannaday, Bigger than Life: The Creator of Doc Savage, page 28",
          "text": "But compared to others, Dent came out of the Depression \"smelling like a rose.\" He later boasted that he made $18,000 a year with his writing during the Depression.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002 June 24, Christopher Palmeri, “Can CalPERS Afford to Throw Stones?”, in BusinessWeek, retrieved 2009-08-04",
          "text": "The champion of corporate governance should smell like a rose. Instead, there's an unpleasant whiff of pork-barrel politics rising from the board.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be regarded as appealing, virtuous, or respectable; to be untainted or unharmed."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "appealing",
          "appealing"
        ],
        [
          "virtuous",
          "virtuous"
        ],
        [
          "respectable",
          "respectable"
        ],
        [
          "untainted",
          "untainted"
        ],
        [
          "unharmed",
          "unharmed"
        ]
      ],
      "qualifier": "simile",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic, colloquial, simile) To be regarded as appealing, virtuous, or respectable; to be untainted or unharmed."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial",
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-smell like a rose.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a9/En-au-smell_like_a_rose.ogg/En-au-smell_like_a_rose.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/En-au-smell_like_a_rose.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (AU)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "come out smelling like a rose"
    },
    {
      "word": "come out smelling of roses"
    },
    {
      "word": "come up smelling like a rose"
    },
    {
      "word": "come up smelling of roses"
    }
  ],
  "word": "smell like a rose"
}