smell a rat
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsmɛl ə ˈɹæt/
Forms: form: smells a rat
form: smelling a rat
form: smelt a rat
form: smelt a rat
form: smelled a rat
form: smelled a rat
Senses: examples: text: Oh, Are you thereabouts, Sir; then I ſmell a Rat Ifaith; but I'll ſay nothing.
ref: 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:
text: [O]ur conjectures were like arrows ſhot in the dark—they were wide of the mark—till an old gentleman came into the room, who after affixing his ſpectacles on the ſuperior part of an aquiline noſe, told us—"he ſmelt a rat!" / "He ſmelt a rat!" and ſhaking his head with all the ſolemnity of Attic ſagacity—whiſpered to the perſon next his elbow, / "I know it!"
ref: 1776 February, “a Lady”, “A Sentimental Journey”, in The Lady's Magazine; or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex, Appropriated Solely to their Use and Enjoyment, London: Printed for G. Robinson, No. 25, Paternoster-Row, →OCLC, page 62, column 2:
text: Mr. Gresham, when he heard this, thought that he began to smell a rat, and was determined to be on his guard.
ref: 1873 July 19 – 1874 January 10, Anthony Trollope, “The Prime Minister is Hard Pressed”, in Phineas Redux, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons, December 1874, →OCLC, page 335
text: [John Broadus] Watson would have liked to continue his infant studies, but he never had the chance. His wife smelled a rat and found out his affair with his graduate student assistant, Rosalie Rayner.
ref: 2007, Alex Boese, Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments, Orlando, Fla.: Harcourt, →ISBN:
text: “If I had told you my ideas, the very first time you saw Mr. Alfred Inglethorp that astute gentleman would have—in your so expressive idiom—‘smelt a rat’! And then, bonjour to our chances of catching him!”
ref: 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 178:
text: Eventually, the job was re-advertised and she applied for it. She applied repeatedly over several years, but was never selected. She began smelling a rat (this being a land managing agency, a woodrat). She did some checking and found out that contrary to its promises, the agency had done all it could to "blackball" her from working in federal service again.
ref: 2011, Russell L. Kaldenberg, “Being a US Government Cultural Resource Manager”, in Thomas F. King, editor, A Companion to Cultural Resource Management (Blackwell Companions to Anthropology; 17), Chichester, West Sussex; Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN:
text: One anecdote holds that when a pro-Constitution opponent demanded to know why [Patrick] Henry had not attended the convention, he replied, "I smelt a rat." Henry scented that decaying rodent in the notion that the states should surrender more power to a new national government.
ref: 2011, Thomas S. Kidd, “Defending the Revolution by Opposing the Constitution”, in Patrick Henry: First among Patriots, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN:
text: If Collins smells a rat, you might gain nothing and tempt the gang to persecute you and your daughter.
ref: 2015, Mary Brendan, chapter 2, in Tarnished, Tempted and Tamed (Mills & Boon Regency), Richmond, Surrey: Mills & Boon, →ISBN:
glosses: To sense something suspicious.
Related terms: fishy
nose test
smell test
smell a fox