Difference between revisions of "Smelled - smelt"
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**From the seventeenth century until 1813, when the coin ceased to be minted, a '''smelt''' was a slang word for a half-guinea (10/6, or ten shillings and six [old] pence). | **From the seventeenth century until 1813, when the coin ceased to be minted, a '''smelt''' was a slang word for a half-guinea (10/6, or ten shillings and six [old] pence). | ||
**A '''smelt''' is also a small fish, classically in British English ''Osmerus eperlanus'', but the name is given to many species of small fish of different genera and indeed families. | **A '''smelt''' is also a small fish, classically in British English ''Osmerus eperlanus'', but the name is given to many species of small fish of different genera and indeed families. | ||
| − | ***In parts of northern England, '''smelt''' is the [[dialect]]al variation of the [[SE]] 'smolt', the young salmon fish intermediate | + | ***In parts of northern England, '''smelt''' is the [[dialect]]al variation of the [[SE]] 'smolt', the young salmon fish intermediate between the '''parr''' and '''grilse'''; perhaps in the third or fourth year of life. |
[[category:grammar]] | [[category:grammar]] | ||
[[category:irregular verbs]] | [[category:irregular verbs]] | ||
[[Category:Alternative spellings]] | [[Category:Alternative spellings]] | ||
[[Category:disambig]] | [[Category:disambig]] | ||
Latest revision as of 19:12, 22 August 2019
The past tense of the verb 'to smell' can be written in two ways - smelled and smelt. OED says "In the pa[st]. tense and p[artici]ple. both smelled and smelt are in use, but the latter is now [1989] the more frequent of the two in British English." In terms of clarity, smelled is a preferable form of the past tense than smelt, because the latter is ambiguous.
- 'To smelt' is a verb to do with metal-working. It means "To fuse or melt (ore, etc.) in order to extract the metal; to obtain or produce (metal) by this process." (OED)
One cannot easily imagine a sentence in which it would be easy to confuse the two words, but if it is possible, it will happen sometimes.
- There are also some more or less obscure nouns smelt
- From the seventeenth century until 1813, when the coin ceased to be minted, a smelt was a slang word for a half-guinea (10/6, or ten shillings and six [old] pence).
- A smelt is also a small fish, classically in British English Osmerus eperlanus, but the name is given to many species of small fish of different genera and indeed families.
