smell blood

present singular third person smells blood · participle present smelling blood · participle past smelled blood · past smelled blood · participle past smelt blood · past smelt blood

1. idiomaticinformalTo sense that one has an advantage over an adversary or rival.

   The Pistons, once they smelled blood, got more aggressive and the Spurs simply ran out of gas.

   2005 June 15, David DuPree, “Detroit stalls Spurs 96-79 in Game 3 of Finals”, in USA Today, retrieved 14 Jul 2011

   3 more examples

   Later he intended to continue his goading of Neil. He could smell blood now; if only he could get the man to fall apart in one of their clubs.

   1995, Jane Feather, Valentine, →ISBN, page 392

   Smelling blood in the economic meltdown, the lower house of parliament, or Duma, took the offensive, calling for Yeltsin to resign.

   1998 September 7, Paul Quinn-Judge, “Russian Roulette”, in Time

   When buyers do turn up nowadays, she says, “they smell blood in the water and routinely offer 15 to 20 percent below the asking price.”

   2008 June 1, Nelson D. Schwartz, “The Trouble in Housing Trickles Up”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Jul 2011

   Synonyms: smell blood in the water