Word.ws English Dictionary

smelling a rat

smelling a rat is the present participle and gerund of smell a rat.

Meaning of smell a rat

Verb

smell a rat (third-person singular simple present smells a rat, present participle smelling a rat, simple past and past participle smelt a rat or smelled a rat)

  1. (idiomatic) To sense something suspicious.
    • Oh, Are you thereabouts, Sir; then I ſmell a Rat Ifaith; but I'll ſay nothing.1667 (revival performance), John Dryden, The Wild Gallant: A Comedy. […], In the Savoy [London]: […] T[homas] Newcomb for H[enry] Herringman, […], published 1669, →OCLC, Act IV, page 45

Questions about smelling a rat

What is smelling a rat the present participle and gerund of?
Smelling a rat is the present participle and gerund of smell a rat.

Words near smelling a rat in the dictionary

  1. smelliest
  2. smellily
  3. smellin'
  4. smelliness
  5. smelling
  6. smelling a rat
  7. smelling aid
  8. smelling blood
  9. smelling bottle
  10. smelling bottles
  11. smelling like a rose

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: smelling a rat (page history and authors); smell a rat (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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