foresmell

English

Etymology

From fore- +‎ smell.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːsmɛl/ (noun), IPA^(key): /fɔːˈsmɛl/ (verb)

Noun

foresmell (plural foresmells)

1. A smell which precedes or comes before something.
   • 1972, Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things, McGraw-Hill, published 1972, page 10:

     His father, a man of sixty, shorter than Hugh and also pudgier, had aged unappetizingly during his recent widowhood; his things let off a characteristic foresmell, faint but unmistakable, and he grunted and sighed in his sleep, dreaming of large unwieldy blocks of blackness [...].

Verb

foresmell (third-person singular simple present foresmells, present participle foresmelling, simple past and past participle foresmelt)

1. (transitive) To smell in advance.
   • 1855, Fred Folio, Lucy Boston, Shepard, Clark & Co., page 291:

     "I do not foresmell any immediate harm to thee from the harness, but as you might run a risk in using it, perhaps it will be safest for me to take it," said the Medium.