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Foul vs Smell - What's the difference?

foul | smell |

As nouns the difference between foul and smell

is that foul is foul (a breach of the rules of a game) while smell is a sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.

As a verb smell is

to sense a smell or smells.

foul

English

(Webster 1913)

Etymology 1

From (etyl), from (etyl) . More at (l).

Adjective

(er)
  • Covered with, or containing unclean matter; polluted; nasty; defiled
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Unspontaneous combustion , passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.}}
  • obscene or profane; abusive.
  • Hateful; detestable; unpleasant
  • * Milton
  • Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
  • Loathsome; disgusting; as, a foul disease.
  • (obsolete) Ugly; homely; poor.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares.
  • Not favorable; unpropitious; not fair or advantageous; as, a foul wind; a foul road; cloudy or rainy; stormy; not fair; -- said of the weather, sky, etc.
  • * Shakespeare
  • So foul a sky clears not without a storm.
  • Not conforming to the established rules and customs of a game, conflict, test, etc.; unfair; dishonest; dishonorable; cheating.
  • (nautical) Having freedom of motion interfered with by collision or entanglement; entangled; - opposed to clear; as, a rope or cable may get foul while paying it out.
  • (baseball) Outside of the base lines; in foul territory.
  • Usage notes
    * Nouns to which "foul" is often applied: play, ball, language, breath, smell, odor, water, weather, deed.
    Synonyms
    * shameful; odious; wretched
    Derived terms
    * afoul * befoul * fall foul * nonfoul * nonfouling

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To make dirty.
  • to foul the face or hands with mire
    She's fouled her diaper.
  • To besmirch.
  • He's fouled his reputation.
  • To clog or obstruct.
  • The hair has fouled the drain.
  • (nautical) To entangle.
  • The kelp has fouled the prop.
  • (basketball) To make contact with an opposing player in order to gain advantage.
  • Smith fouled him hard.
  • (baseball) To hit outside of the baselines.
  • Jones fouled the ball off the facing of the upper deck.
  • To become clogged.
  • ''The drain fouled .
  • To become entangled.
  • The prop fouled on the kelp.
  • (basketball) To commit a foul.
  • Smith fouled within the first minute of the quarter.
  • (baseball) To hit a ball outside of the baselines.
  • Jones fouled for strike one.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (sports) A breach of the rules of a game, especially one involving inappropriate contact with an opposing player in order to gain an advantage; as, for example, foot-tripping in soccer, or contact of any kind in basketball.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=December 10 , author=Arindam Rej , title=Norwich 4 - 2 Newcastle , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=A second Norwich goal in four minutes arrived after some dire Newcastle defending. Gosling gave the ball away with a sloppy back-pass, allowing Crofts to curl in a cross that the unmarked Morison powered in with a firm, 12-yard header.
    Gosling's plight worsened when he was soon shown a red card for a foul on Martin.}}
  • (bowling) A (usually accidental) contact between a bowler and the lane before the bowler has released the ball.
  • (baseball) A foul ball, a ball which has been hit outside of the base lines.
  • Jones hit a foul up over the screen.

    smell

    English

    Noun

  • A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
  • I love the smell of fresh bread.
  • * 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...
  • (physiology) The sense that detects odours.
  • Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "smell": sweet, good, nice, great, pleasant, fresh, fragrant, bad, foul, unpleasant, horrible, terrible, awful, nasty, disgusting, funny, strange, odd, sour, funky, metallic, stinky, rotten, rancid, putrid, rank, fishy.

    Synonyms

    * (sensation) ** (pleasant) aroma, fragrance, odor/odour, scent ** (unpleasant) odor/odour, niff (informal), pong (informal), reek, stench, stink, whiff (informal) * (sense) olfaction (in technical use), sense of smell * See also

    Verb

  • To sense a smell or smells.
  • To have a particular smell, whether good or bad; if descriptive, followed by "like" or "of".
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room
  • (without a modifier) To smell bad; to stink.
  • (figurative) To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savour.
  • * (John Milton)
  • Praises in an enemy are superfluous, or smell of craft.
  • (obsolete) To exercise sagacity.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • To detect or perceive; often with out .
  • * Shakespeare
  • I smell a device.
  • (obsolete) To give heed to.
  • * Latimer
  • From that time forward I began to smell the Word of God, and forsook the school doctors.

    Usage notes

    The sense "to smell bad, stink" is considered by some to be an incorrect substitute for stink.

    Synonyms

    * (sense a smell or smells) detect, sense * (have the smell of) (all followed by'' like''' ''or'' ' of ) ** (pleasant) ** (unpleasant) pong (informal), reek, stink, whiff (informal)

    Derived terms

    * code smells * sense of smell (see olfaction) * smell a rat * smell blood * smell like a rose * smell of an oily rag * smell test * smell the barn * smelly * wake up and smell the coffee

    See also

    * anosmia * sense

    References

    * *