His wife smelt a rat when he suddenly started working late for the past few weeks. "That guy has been standing on the corner of my street for 3 hours. Rather, he or she has a general sense or feeling of suspicion. Yes, they were “smelling a rat” the whole time! Smell a rat definition: to suspect that something is wrong in a particular situation, for example that someone is... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples Definition: Something is suspicious. The phrase has been remained very popular in English language since the ages and even in present times it has gained acclamation in common sayings among the English speakers. MEANING to smell a rat: to detect something suspicious. Someone will use this phrase when he or she thinks something is not quite right in a situation. Related to smell a rat: under the weather, until the cows come home, rattle cage, out of steam, blew off steam, Idioms smell a rat To suspect an instance of betrayal, deception, or corruption. Suspicious: causing a feeling that something is wrong or that someone is behaving wrongly. Thus, perhaps this stinky situation is where the idiom “I smell a rat” originated. Learn more. Anyways, the earliest I could find this saying in print is from the newspaper The World Fashionable Advertiser, 1787: Usually, the person doesn’t know what is wrong exactly. It sounded too good to be true. I Smell a Rat Meaning. Later, they might figure out that the source of the foul smell was a dead rodent. To smell a rat is an idiom, the key word to understanding it is the adjective suspicious. Idioms smell a rat meaning Find out meaning/definition of the idiom "smell a rat" including example sentences and interesting original facts. Origin of I Smell a Rat smell a rat. In the 1860s, a cat and a rat were trapped in an organ pipe in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and became mummified. To smell a rat definition: If you smell a rat , you begin to suspect or realize that something is wrong in a... | Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples smell a rat definition: 1. to recognize that something is not as it appears to be or that something dishonest is happening…. In Finnegans Wake, James Joyce wrote: “as stuck as that cat to that mouse in that tube of that christchuch organ”. Meaning: sense that something is not right; suspect trickery or deception; realize that something is not as supposed to be; suspect that something wrong is happening; Example: When he made that offer, I smelt a rat. This term start with the…