To show the signs of arduous, overwrought effort, and to lack freshness or vitality as a result. (Said especially of academic or literary work.) His thesis is meticulously crafted, but the paragraphs are so dry and calculated, and the paper lacks any flourish or style. As a whole, it rather smells of the lamp to me.

A retort made when someone has passed gas that places the blame on the first person to acknowledge the smell. A: "What's that awful smell?" B: "Hey, he who smelt it dealt it!"