Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

Find a word or form any language English German Search

foresmell en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /fɔːˈsmɛl/
• /ˈfɔːsmɛl/ (UK)

Etymology

From fore- + smell.

Meanings

1. A smell which precedes or comes before something.
   • 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 [...]. 1972, Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things, McGraw-Hill, published 1972, page 10:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
foresmells	Number=Plur		lexicographic

foresmell en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /fɔːˈsmɛl/
• /ˈfɔːsmɛl/ (UK)

Etymology

From fore- + smell.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To smell in advance.
   • "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. 1855, Fred Folio, Lucy Boston, Shepard, Clark & Co., page 291:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
foresmelling	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
foresmells	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres		lexicographic
foresmelt	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
foresmelt	Tense=Past		lexicographic