Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
smell of the shop en · VERB
Meanings
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(dated, idiomatic) To indicate too distinctively one's occupation or profession.
[…]the acceptance of a consulship is held by the young diplomatic aspirants as an implied engagement to attend to the national trade, to the imminent risk of smelling of the shop
1851, The Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review:They may purchase estates, and become squires, and marry women "of condition;" but the way in which their money was acquired must exclude at least that generation. Their money smells of the shop.
1834, Tait's Edinburgh Magazine:
Forms