English Dictionary

smell test

noun

(idiomatic) An informal method for determining whether something is authentic, credible, or ethical, by using one's common sense or sense of propriety.

The smell test revealed that the milk had gone bad.

意味（1）

(idiomatic) An informal method for determining whether something is authentic, credible, or ethical, by using one's common sense or sense of propriety.

It just doesn't pass the smell test. It just creates too many opportunities for cutting corners, doing unethical things and basically not telling the truth.

意味（2）

An inspection of an object using the sense of smell, as for freshness of food.

I give the smell test to many foods when I shop.

意味（3）

(physiology) An assessment of a subject's ability to detect and distinguish odors.

Although scientists have yet to pin down any biological basis for cigarette smokers' impaired performance on the smell test, Doty says he suspects that certain chemicals in smoke . . . damage the olfactory receptor cells in the nose.