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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
sniff
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
around
▪ She won't want the police sniffing around.
▪ The Tribune itself sniffed around for the great Communist conspiracy it suspected of backing the protesters.
▪ The sergeant would go sniffing around so that he showed he knew what you were doing.
▪ Miguel sniffed around for the scent of smoke, but no deal.
▪ I went and sniffed around the edges of the frosted glass back door: a good, clean, slightly sweet smell.
▪ It came and sniffed around the edges, and gradually came all the way out.
▪ I wanted to sniff around a little, and I always do that better on my own, without distractions.
out
▪ At a fairly young age I learnt to sniff out danger and step into choppy conversations to skilfully avert disaster.
▪ Some take off their masks to sniff out strange odors.
▪ What olfactory sense is logic endowed with that it sniffs out and runs to ground the hidden nature of things?
▪ Some machines sniff out plastic explosives.
▪ A failed marriage is one of those unconsidered trifles he might expect to sniff out.
▪ I became an expert at sniffing out potential humiliation.
▪ Pseudonym detection squads would sniff out fraudsters, like the satellites which monitor Sicilian olive groves.
■ NOUN
air
▪ Then he sniffed the air, took his brother's arm, and allowed himself to be led away.
▪ I said, sniffing the food intently, sniffing the air like an alert rodent.
▪ Neville drew the brass bolts and flung the door open to sniff the morning air.
▪ He got out of the car with a groan and rubbed his back, then sniffed the air.
▪ She sniffed the air and ignored him.
▪ It is the portrait of a caged animal sniffing the air in search of a scent of meaning in life.
▪ She stalked, stiff-legged like a wolf, into the darkling garden and like a wolf she sniffed the air.
▪ He closed the door behind him, sniffing the air with distaste.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "I'm sorry I got so upset,'' she sniffed.
▪ "It looks overcooked," she sniffed.
▪ Otto looked around quickly to make sure no one was looking and then sniffed his armpits.
▪ She sniffed a few times and stopped crying.
▪ Stop sniffing! Use your handkerchief.
▪ The dog raised its nose in the air, sniffed, and then started to follow the scent.
▪ The dog was rushing around excitedly, sniffing at the ground.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ For a moment he sniffed at the roots.
▪ He sniffed his hand again, then shook his head.
▪ I could hear him sniff as he went before me.
▪ It sniffed at the ground and stood, dejected, motionless.
▪ Some youngsters who sniff have accidents while they are intoxicated and some suffer damage to their health.
▪ The number of youngsters sniffing varies from place to place and at different times.
▪ Varney sniffed, wiped his nose with his hand and backed his other foot into the water.
II.noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ VERB
get
▪ Somehow Beador had got a sniff of it.
take
▪ Ed leaned forwards and took a sniff.
▪ She took a sniff of those leather seats, and that was it, she was in there, feeling them up.
▪ So they call out the local Jesuit priest, he takes a good sniff and says it's haunted.
▪ She took a deep sniff of it.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ His mother gave a sniff and asked if he had been smoking in his bedroom.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A sniff of tea, a whiff of biscuits, and there would soon be a crowd.
▪ A dab with a handkerchief and an early morning sniff was my subterfuge.
▪ Ed leaned forwards and took a sniff.
▪ Filmer could go in and out of the Westin without a sniff of fresh air, and probably had.
▪ She took a sniff of those leather seats, and that was it, she was in there, feeling them up.
▪ She turned back to her companions with a sniff.
▪ Stamford have given me a list of local McCloys and there again not a sniff as far as they know.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sniff

Sniff \Sniff\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Sniffedor Snift; p. pr. & vb. n. Sniffing.] [OE. sneven; akin to snivel, snuff; cf. Dan. snive to sniff. See Snuff, v. t.] To draw air audibly up the nose; to snuff; -- sometimes done as a gesture of suspicion, offense, or contempt.

So ye grow squeamish, gods, and sniff at heaven.
--M. Arnold.

Sniff

Sniff \Sniff\, v. t.

  1. To draw in with the breath through the nose; as, to sniff the air of the country.

  2. To perceive as by sniffing; to snuff, to scent; to smell; as, to sniff danger.

Sniff

Sniff \Sniff\, n. The act of sniffing; perception by sniffing; that which is taken by sniffing; as, a sniff of air.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
sniff

mid-14c., of imitative origin; possibly related to snyvelen (see snivel). As an expression of scorn or contempt from 1729. As a synonym for smell (v.) it dates from 1845. In reference to cocaine from 1925. Related: Sniffed; sniffing.

sniff

1767, from sniff (v.); the scornful sense is from 1859.

Wiktionary
sniff

n. 1 An instance of sniffing. 2 A quantity of something that is inhaled through the nose 3 A brief perception vb. 1 (context ambitransitive English) To make a short, audible inhalation, through the nose, as if to smell something. 2 To say something while sniffing, for example in case of illness or unhappiness, or in contempt. 3 (context transitive English) To perceive vaguely 4 To be dismissive or contemptuous of something. 5 (context computing English) To intercept and analyse packets of data being transmitted over a network. 6 (context slang UK English) To inhale drugs in powder form (usually cocaine) through the nose.

WordNet
sniff

n. sensing an odor by inhaling through the nose [syn: snuff]

sniff
  1. v. perceive by inhaling through the nose; "sniff the perfume" [syn: whiff]

  2. inhale audibly through the nose; "the sick student was sniffling in the back row" [syn: sniffle]

Wikipedia

Usage examples of "sniff".

The juice of the root is very acrid when sniffed up the nostrils, and causes a copious flow of water therefrom, thus giving marked relief for obstinate congestive headache of a dull, passive sort.

Can you sniff around for alarum glamours, sentinels, booby-traps, that kind of thing?

I fought with all my might to hold it back as Alder knelt and sniffed at the path.

Others milled happily around Alec, slapping him with their plumed tails and sniffing hopefully at the swans hanging at his saddlebow.

He sniffed the air, the scent a mixture of diesel oil and diesel exhaust from the emergency generator, ozone from the electrical equipment, cooking oil, lubricating oils, and amines from the atmospheric control equipment.

Wags thought so too as the dog avidly sniffed around the base of the stalls.

The paper had one other general reporter, Baggy Suggs, a pickled old goat who spent his hours hanging around the courthouse across the street sniffing for gossip and drinking bourbon with a small club of washed-up lawyers too old and too drunk to practice anymore.

So, for example, after getting out of such filth and beggarliness, after having scrubbed floors, she would suddenly start sniffing at our poverty!

She sniffed it, grinned, then tucked it under the bib of her sooty white apron.

The forty-foot barrels of the nine-inch guns moved restlessly, seeming to sniff for their prey, and the Blucher raced on, lifting a hissing white wave at her bows, vibrating and shuddering to the thrust of her engines as they built up to full speed.

Inspector bloody Charlie Resnick had been sniffing round the secondhand shop Terry rented out by Bobbers Mill.

All day spent with books has a rather exhausting effect on the mind, and he used to enjoy the fresh air sweeping up the dark Brooklyn streets, meditating some thought that had sprung from his reading, while Bock sniffed and padded along in the manner of an elderly dog at night.

Ashley sniffed as a bosomy blonde slid into his arms and momentarily rested her head on his shoulder.

The two beasts sniffed each other warily, then Bozo, like an anxious parent, began licking his pup as if to make certain that he was unharmed.

Here Bunning took a handkerchief and began miserably to gulp and sniff.