Smell
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( v. t.) The quality of any thing or substance, or emanation therefrom, which affects the olfactory organs; odor; scent; fragrance; perfume; as, the smell of mint.
(2): ( v. t.) The sense or faculty by which certain qualities of bodies are perceived through the instrumentally of the olfactory nerves. See Sense.
(3): ( v. i.) To affect the olfactory nerves; to have an odor or scent; - often followed by of; as, to smell of smoke, or of musk.
(4): ( n.) To give heed to.
(5): ( v. i.) To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savor; as, a report smells of calumny.
(6): ( n.) To detect or perceive, as if by the sense of smell; to scent out; - often with out.
(7): ( v. i.) To exercise sagacity.
(8): ( n.) To perceive by the olfactory nerves, or organs of smell; to have a sensation of, excited through the nasal organs when affected by the appropriate materials or qualities; to obtain the scent of; as, to smell a rose; to smell perfumes.
(9): ( v. i.) To exercise the sense of smell.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types [2]
Psalm 45:8 (b) It is interesting to note that GOD uses all of our senses to convey truths concerning Himself. The very sweet effects of fellowship with GOD are described as fragrant perfumes. It is so in this Scripture and in other passages. Somehow the heart is warmed and the soul is refreshed when the Lord Jesus Christ is presented to us by the Holy Spirit through His Word. (See also Song of Solomon 4:10).
Isaiah 3:24 (b) There should have come up to GOD from Israel the sweet incense of their worship, love, thanksgiving and praise. Instead of that GOD saw and heard only their worship of idols, their evil practices, their wicked ways, all of which were most distasteful to Him.
Hosea 14:6 (b) This is a prophecy concerning the day when Israel will again be a God-fearing nation, loving the Lord, obeying His Word, and honoring His Name. GOD compares this to the fragrant perfume from beautiful flowers.
King James Dictionary [3]
Smell pret and pp. smelled, smelt. I have not found this word in any other language. TO perceive by the nose, or by the olfactory nerves to have a sensation excited in certain organs of the nose by particular qualities of a body, which are transmitted in fine particles, often form a distance as, to smell a rose to smell perfumes.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]
smel (Hebrew and Aramaic ריח , rēaḥ , as noun, "savor," "scent"; רוּח , rūaḥ , as verb, literally, "to breathe," "to inhale," thence "to smell"; ὀσμή , osmḗ , the "smell," "savor," εὐωδία , euōdı́a , "sweet smell" "fragrance" ὄσφρησις , ósphrēsis "the sense of smell"; verb ὄσφραίνομαι , osphraı́nomai ): And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled ( way - yāraḥ ) the smell ( rēaḥ̣ ) of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell ( rēaḥ̣ ) of my son is as the smell ( rēaḥ̣ ) of a field which Yahweh hath blessed" ( Genesis 27:27 ). Idols are described as "gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell" ( Deuteronomy 4:28 ). Acceptable sacrifices and pious conduct are called a "sweet smell" or "savor" ( Exodus 29:18; Ephesians 5:2; Philippians 4:18 ) well-pleasing to God. The godless life, which dishonors God, is hateful to Him: "I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors" ( Leviticus 26:31 ). The phrase, "being in bad odor with a person," can be traced to Biblical language: "Ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants" ( Exodus 5:21 ). Thus "smell" is occasionally equivalent with "quality," "character": "His (Moab's) taste remaineth in him, and his scent is not changed" ( Jeremiah 48:11 ). Character or quality is the most infallible test, the most manifest advertisement of a thing or a person; thus we find the following very instructive passage: "(God) maketh manifest through us the savor ( osmē ) of his knowledge in every place. For we are a sweet savor ( euōdia ) of Christ unto God, in (better: "among") them that are saved, and in (better: "among") them that perish; to the one a savor ( osmē ) from death unto death; to the other a savor ( osmē ) from life unto life" ( 2 Corinthians 2:14-16 ). See Triumph . In the passage Isaiah 3:24 , the King James Version "sweet smell" (בּשׂם , besem , "balsam plant") has been changed to "sweet spices" in the Revised Version (British and American).
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]
( בּשֶֹׁ ם or רְיח , Fragrance ; בַּוֹשׁ , stench) . Jacob said to his sons, after the slaughter of the Shechemites ( Genesis 34:30), "Ye have troubled me, to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land" Ye have given me an ill scent, or smell among this people. The Israelites, in a similar manner, complained to Moses and Aaron ( Exodus 5:21), "The Lord look upon you, and judge, because you have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants." This manner of speaking occurs frequently in the Hebrew. In a contrary sense, Paul says ( 2 Corinthians 2:15-16), "We are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish; to the one we are the savor of death unto death, and to the other the savor of life unto life." In the sacrifices of the old law, the smell of the burned offerings is represented in Scripture as agreeable to God ( Genesis 8:21), "And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar; it is a burned offering unto the Lord; it is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord." The same thing, by analogy, is said of prayer ( Psalms 141:2), "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting-up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." So John, in allusion to this service of the Old Test., represents the twenty-four elders with "golden, vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints" ( Revelation 5:8).
