smelling of the shop

Verb

smell of the shop (third-person singular simple present smells of the shop, present participle smelling of the shop, simple past and past participle smelled of the shop or smelt of the shop)

1. (dated, idiomatic) To indicate too distinctively one's occupation or profession.
   • 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