Dictionary

smell like a rose en · VERB

(colloquial, idiomatic, qualifier:simile) To be regarded as appealing, virtuous, or respectable; to be untainted or unharmed.
- The champion of corporate governance should smell like a rose. Instead, there's an unpleasant whiff of pork-barrel politics rising from the board. 2002 June 24, Christopher Palmeri, “Can CalPERS Afford to Throw Stones?”, in BusinessWeek, retrieved 04 Aug 2009:
- 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. 1990, Marilyn Cannaday, Bigger than Life: The Creator of Doc Savage, →ISBN, page 28:
- come out smelling like a rose
- "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." 1953 November 22, “Prison is quiet after hearing”, in Spokesman-Review, Spokane, USA, retrieved 04 Aug 2009, page 22:

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
smelled like a rose	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
smelled like a rose	Tense=Past		lexicographic
come up smelling of roses		alternative	lexicographic
come out smelling of roses		alternative	lexicographic
come up smelling like a rose		alternative	lexicographic
smells like a rose	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres		lexicographic
come out smelling like a rose		alternative	lexicographic
smelt like a rose	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
smelt like a rose	Tense=Past		lexicographic
smelling like a rose	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic