| 词汇 | smelling a rat |
| 释义 | (redirected from smelling a rat)smell a ratTo suspect an instance of betrayal, deception, or corruption. A: "Their numbers don't match up with the taxes they've paid." B: "Hmm, I smell a rat." She thought she smelled a rat when she saw John slinking away from the scene of the crime. smell a ratto suspect that something is wrong; to sense that someone has caused something wrong. I don't think this was an accident. I smell a rat. Bob had something to do with this. The minute I came in, I smelled a rat. Sure enough, I had been robbed. smell a ratSuspect something is wrong, especially a betrayal of some kind. For example, When I didn't hear any more from my prospective employer, I began to smell a rat. This expression alludes to a cat sniffing out a rat. [c. 1550] smell a ratINFORMALCOMMON If you smell a rat, you believe that something is wrong in a particular situation, especially that someone is trying to deceive you or harm you. Once Caldere discovers the money is missing, he's going to smell a rat, isn't he? If only I'd thought it through, I'd have smelt a rat straight away and never touched the proposal. smell a ratbegin to suspect trickery or deception. informalˌsmell a ˈrat(informal) think or suspect that something is wrong or that somebody is trying to deceive you: She says that the business is making a lot of money, but I smell a rat somewhere. The figures are too good to be true.smell a rat tv. to suspect that something is wrong. Keep everything normal. I don’t want her to smell a rat. She has never had a surprise party before. smell a ratSlang To suspect that something is wrong. smell a rat, toTo suspect that something is wrong. Presumably this term, which is very old indeed, alludes to a cat sniffing out a rat. John Skelton used it in The Image of Hypocrisy (ca. 1550): “Yf they smell a ratt, they grisely chide and chant.” |
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