Word.ws English Dictionary

smell a fox

smell a fox phrase: to be suspicious of deception.

Phrase

smell a fox

  1. (obsolete) To be suspicious of deception.
    • Lang.: A ghost ? Where, my lord ?—I smell a fox.1611, The Atheist's Tragedy, page 316
    • Aſter the Porcupine had liſtened a while to his deceitful Arguments, he made this Reply to the enſnaring Beguiler, Methinks I ſmell a Fox, keep at a Diſtance; your eloquent Flouriſhes have made no Impreſſions upon me.1754, Aesop's Fables: with his life, and morals and remarks. Fitted for the meanest capacities., page 24
    Synonyms:
    smell a rat

Synonyms of smell a fox

Questions about smell a fox

What does smell a fox mean?
Smell a fox means to be suspicious of deception.
What part of speech is smell a fox?
Smell a fox is a phrase.

Words near smell a fox in the dictionary

  1. Smejkals
  2. smel
  3. Smelcer
  4. Smelcers
  5. smell
  6. smell a fox
  7. smell a rat
  8. smell blindness
  9. smell blood
  10. smell blood in the water
  11. smell fishy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smell a fox (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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