smeller
(ˈsmɛlə(r))
Also 6–7 smellar.
[f. smell v. + -er.]
1. a. One who has or exercises the sense of smell; one who smells out, etc.
| 1519 W. Horman Vulgaria 45 They that haue nostrellis strayght forth be good smellars. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 258 The smellers or felers therof hath thought them selfe rauysshed as yf they had ben in paradyse. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 171 The smeller of smellers then, thou art euyn he. 1658 tr. Porta's Nat. Magick viii. i. 218 Adding a little Musk, to gain an easier reception of the Smeller. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. i. §12 The first smellers out of so great a design. 1888 H. W. Parker Spirit of Beauty (1891) 92 Calderwood shows how the sensationalists would evolve a whole philosophy of mind and morals from a smell, and that, too, without a smeller. |
b. slang. ‘A prying fellow; one who tries to smell out something; a sneaking spy’ (Cent. Dict.).
2. † a. Cant. A garden. Obs.— 0
| 1610 Rowlands Mart. Mark-all E iv, Smellar, a garden; not Smelling cheate, for thats a Nosegay. |
b. One who has a smell; a stinker.
| a 1625 Fletcher Nice Valour iv. i, Such nasty smellers, That..They might have cudgell'd me with their very stink. |
3. A feeler; a slender tactile organ, hair, etc.; esp. one of the whiskers of a cat.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. 180 Of the Eyes and Head of a Grey Drone-Fly... As concerning the horns.., the feelers or smellers.., the Proboscis [etc.]. 1738 Gentl. Mag. VIII. 378/2 Smellers, or kind of Whiskers, at his Nostrils. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Smellers, a cat's whiskers. 1840 Peter Parley's Ann. I. 266 Mosette felt her smellers crackle close to her nose. 1899 Daily News 18 Apr. 8/2 A black tom cat... White chest, white hind legs, and white smellers. |
4. slang. a. The nose; pl. the nostrils.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew. 1822 Blackw. Mag. II. 594 Here was..a hit on the wind—a douss on the smeller. 1853 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green i. xvi, Come on..and let me have a rap at your smellers. 1894 Nation 29 Nov. 399/3 He would rather not have to draw his claret and close his peepers and mash his smeller and break his breadbasket. |
b. A blow on the nose. Also transf.
| 1824 Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825) 38 He swore he would tip me a smeller. 1864 Daily Telegr. 3 Sept., The Metacomet, which was hitting out wildly,..delivered to the Hartford a ‘smeller’ intended for the rebel ram. 1872 Punch 6 Apr. 150/2 What in low fighting slang is called a smeller. |
5. fig. Anything remarkable for exceptional violence, severity, strength, etc. a. = snorter1 2 b. b. slang. A heavy fall; usu. in phr. to come a smeller. Cf. stinker 6 c.
| 1898 Kipling Fleet in Being v. 55 Good old gales—regular smellers. 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 278 Smeller, (2) to come a smeller, ramasser une pelle. 1934 Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves ix. 92 A man's brain whizzes along for years exceeding the speed limit, and then something suddenly goes wrong with the steering gear and it skids and comes a smeller in the ditch. |