different between smell vs stell

English

Etymology

From Middle English smellen, smillen, smyllen, smullen, from Old English *smyllan, *smiellan (“to smell, emit fumes”), from Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (“to glow, burn, smoulder”), from Proto-Indo-European *smel- (“to burn, smoke, smoulder; tar, pitch”). The noun is from Middle English smel, smil, smul (“smell, odour”). Related to Saterland Frisian smeele (“to smoulder”), Middle Dutch sm?len (“to burn, smoulder”) (whence Dutch smeulen (“to smoulder”)), Middle Low German smölen (“to be hazy, be dusty”) (whence Low German smölen (“smoulder”)), Low German smullen (“emit smoke”), West Flemish smoel (“stuffy, muggy, hazy”), Danish smul (“dust, powder”), Lithuanian smilkyti (“to incense, fumigate”), Lithuanian smilkti (“to smudge, smolder, fume, reek”), Lithuanian smalkinti (“to fume”), Middle Irish smál, smól, smúal (“fire, gleed, embers, ashes”), Russian ?????? (smolá, “resin, tar”). Compare smoulder, smother.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: sm?l, IPA^(key): /sm?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Noun

smell (countable and uncountable, plural smells)

1. A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
   • 1908, Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

     The penetrating smell of cabbage reached the nose of Toad as he lay prostrate in his misery on the floor, and gave him the idea for a moment that perhaps life was not such a blank and desperate thing as he had imagined. But still he wailed, and kicked with his legs, and refused to be comforted. So the wise girl retired for the time, but, of course, a good deal of the smell of hot cabbage remained behind, as it will do, and Toad, between his sobs, sniffed and reflected, and gradually began to think new and inspiring thoughts: of chivalry, and poetry...

2. (physiology) The sense that detects odours.
3. A conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or otherwise inappropriate.
   • 2018 Schroers, Carl (February 8, 2018) , “Chapter 8”, in Wrestling with Time Lost, Lulu Press

     “I’m just saying, this has a bad smell to it.”

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "smell": acrid, awful, bad, disgusting, fishy, foul, fragrant, fresh, funny, funky, good, great, horrible, metallic, musty, nasty, nice, odd, pervasive, penetrating, pleasant, powerful, pungent, putrid, rancid, rank, rotten, sour, spoilt, salty, strange, stinky, strong, sweet, terrible, unpleasant.

Synonyms

• (sensation): see Thesaurus:smell
  • (pleasant): aroma, fragrance, odor/odour, scent; see also Thesaurus:aroma
  • (unpleasant): niff (informal), pong (informal), reek, stench, stink; see also Thesaurus:stench
• (sense): olfaction (in technical use), sense of smell

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To sense a smell or smells.

   Synonyms: detect, sense

2. (intransitive, copulative) Followed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad.

   Synonyms: (informal) pong, reek, stink, (informal; these words refer to unpleasant smells) whiff
3. (intransitive, without a modifier) To smell bad; to stink.

4. (intransitive, figuratively) To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savour.
   • 1649, John Milton, Eikonoklastes

     Praises in an enemy are superfluous, or smell of craft.

5. (obsolete) To exercise sagacity.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

6. To detect or perceive; often with out.
7. (obsolete) To give heed to.
   • 1552, Hugh Latimer, the first sermon upon the Lord's Prayer

     From that time forward I began to smell the Word of God, and forsook the school doctors.

8. (transitive) To smell off; to have a smell of

Usage notes

• The sense “to smell bad, stink” is considered by some to be an incorrect (euphemistic) substitute for stink.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• anosmia
• sense

References

• smell in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• smell in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Mells, Mlles, mells

Icelandic

Verb

smell (strong)

1. first-person singular present indicative of smella
2. second-person singular imperative of smella

Verb

smell (weak)

1. second-person singular imperative of smella

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From the verb smelle.

Noun

smell n (definite singular smellet, indefinite plural smell, definite plural smella or smellene)
smell m (definite singular smellen, indefinite plural smell or smeller, definite plural smellene)

1. a bang (sudden loud noise)

References

• “smell” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sm?l?/

Etymology 1

From the verb smelle.

Noun

smell n (definite singular smellet, indefinite plural smell, definite plural smella)
smell m (definite singular smellen, indefinite plural smellar, definite plural smellane)

1. a bang (sudden loud noise)

Etymology 2

Noun

smell m (definite singular smellen, indefinite plural smellar, definite plural smellane)

1. a knock, an impact

References

• “smell” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English stellen, from Old English stellan (“to give a place to, set, place”), from Proto-West Germanic *stalljan (“to put, position”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, put, post, stand”). Cognate with Dutch stellen (“to set, put”), Low German stellen (“to put, place, fix”), German stellen (“to set, place, provide”), Old English steall (“position, place”). More at stall.

Verb

stell (third-person singular simple present stells, present participle stelling, simple past and past participle stelled or stold)

1. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Scotland) To place in position; set up, fix, plant; prop, mount.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. (transitive, obsolete) To portray; delineate; display.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece, 1443–44:

     To this well-painted piece is Lucrece come,

     To find a face where all distress is stelled.

   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 24:

     Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd

     Thy beauty's form in table of my heart ...

Etymology 2

Alteration of stall, after the verb to stell.

Noun

stell (plural stells)

1. (archaic) A place; station.
2. A stall; a fold for cattle.
3. (Scotland) A prop; a support, as for the feet in standing or climbing.
4. (Scotland) A still.
   • 1786, Robert Burns, "The Author's Earnest Cry And Prayer":

     Paint Scotland greetin owre her thrissle;

     Her mutchkin stowp as toom's a whissle;

     An' damn'd excisemen in a bussle,

     Seizin a stell,

     Triumphant crushin't like a mussel,

     Or limpet shell!

   • 1791, Robert Burns, "Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation":

     The English stell we could disdain,

     Secure in valour's station;

     But English gold has been our bane-

     Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

Related terms

• stall

Anagrams

• Tells, tells

German

Verb

stell

1. singular imperative of stellen

Icelandic

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Danish stel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?l?/
• Rhymes: -?l?

Noun

stell n (genitive singular stells, nominative plural stell)

1. service (set of matching dishes or untensils)
2. set of false teeth

Declension

Etymology 2

Back-formation from stella (“to potter about, to tinker”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?tl/
• Rhymes: -?tl

Noun

stell n (genitive singular stells, no plural)

1. pottering, tinkering, idle work

   Synonyms: föndur, bauk, dund, dútl

Declension

Plautdietsch

Adjective

stell

1. quiet, silent, still
2. calm, peaceful

Yola

Noun

stell

1. Alternative form of sthill