Dictionary

smell blood en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, informal) To sense that one has an advantage over an adversary or rival.
   • The Pistons, once they smelled blood, got more aggressive and the Spurs simply ran out of gas. 2005 June 15, David DuPree, “Detroit stalls Spurs 96-79 in Game 3 of Finals”, in USA Today, retrieved 14 Jul 2011:
   • Later he intended to continue his goading of Neil. He could smell blood now; if only he could get the man to fall apart in one of their clubs. 1995, Jane Feather, Valentine, →ISBN, page 392:
   • When buyers do turn up nowadays, she says, “they smell blood in the water and routinely offer 15 to 20 percent below the asking price.” 2008 June 1, Nelson D. Schwartz, “The Trouble in Housing Trickles Up”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Jul 2011:
   • Smelling blood in the economic meltdown, the lower house of parliament, or Duma, took the offensive, calling for Yeltsin to resign. 1998 September 7, Paul Quinn-Judge, “Russian Roulette”, in Time:

Forms

Relateds

have the upper hand · go for the jugular

Synonyms

smell blood in the water