sense of smell vs smell

sense of smell

smell

noun
  • A conclusion or intuition that a situation is wrong, more complex than it seems, or otherwise inappropriate. 

  • A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance. 

  • The sense that detects odours. 

verb
  • To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savour. 

  • To smell bad; to stink. 

  • To detect or perceive; often with out. 

  • Followed by like or of if descriptive: to have a particular smell, whether good or bad. 

  • To sense a smell or smells. 

  • To smell of; to have a smell of 

How often have the words sense of smell and smell occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )