smelly

comparative smellier · superlative smelliest

1. Having a bad smell.

   She was hesitant to remove her shoes, as her socks were rather smelly.

   Synonyms: fetid

2. figurativelyHaving a quality that arouses suspicion.

   The detective read the documents and thought, "Something sure is smelly about this case."

   Synonyms: dodgy, doubtful, dubious, suspect, suspicious

3. figurativelyslangcomputingHaving signs that suggest a design problem; having a code smell.

   That smelly code needs to be refactored.

plural smellies

1. rareA smelly person.

   And I can get home myself, thank you. Little smelly.

   1965, Richard Dowling, chapter 31, in All the Beautiful People, London: Arthur Barker Limited […], page 228

   4 more examples

   Or if you know any piglets with water pistols, maybe you could throw them a bottle of gargle and say, ‘Hoy you smellies, I bet you can’t squirt the little dangly thing up the dark end of my gob with this’.

   2000, Ian Whybrow, Little Wolf’s Postbag, London: Collins, →ISBN, page 45

   However, according to [Joey] Owens, these anarchists are all a bunch of smellies, who run away “screaming” while forever being hit over the head with iron bars by victorious fascists.

   2009 June, “Anti-Fascism in Liverpool: Action! Race War to Door Wars [Review]”, in KSL: Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library, number 58-9, London: Kate Sharpley Library, →ISSN, page 7, column 1

   Both of them had been called “little smellies,” because Hillie insisted their breath reeked of garlic and fish.

   [2012, Joe O’Neill, Wrath of the Caid (The Red Hand Adventures; II), [Hood River, Ore.]: Black Ship Publishing, →ISBN, page 92

   I have two little smellies to think of too. Family is big and cost of living in this city is increasing by the day.

   2014, Shweta Taneja, Cult of Chaos: An Anantya Tantrist Mystery, Noida, Uttar Pradesh: HarperCollins Publishers India, →ISBN, page 212

plural smellies

1. informalengineeringa Short Magazine Lee Enfield rifle or one of its derivatives.