sniff

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To inhale a short, audible breath through the nose, as in smelling something.
2. v. To sniffle.
3. v. To use the sense of smell, as in savoring or investigating: sniffed at the jar to see what it held.
4. v. To regard something in a contemptuous or dismissive manner: The critics sniffed at the adaptation of the novel to film.
5. v. Informal To pry; snoop: The reporters came sniffing around for more details.
6. v. To inhale forcibly through the nose: sniffed the cool morning air.
7. v. To smell, as in savoring or investigating: sniffed the lilacs; sniffed the breeze for traces of smoke.
8. v. To perceive or detect by or as if by sniffing: dogs that sniffed out the trail through the snow; sniffed trouble ahead.
9. v. To utter in a contemptuous or haughty manner: The countess sniffed her disapproval.
10. n. An instance or the sound of sniffing.
11. n. Something sniffed or perceived by or as if by sniffing; a whiff: a sniff of perfume; a sniff of scandal.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To draw air through the nose in short audible inspirations, as an expression of scorn; snuff: often with at.
2. To draw in with the breath through the nose; smell of with an audible inhalation; snuff: as, to sniff the fragrance of a clover-field.
3. To perceive as by snuffing; smell; scent: as, to sniff danger.
4. To draw the breath through (the nose) in an unpleasantly audible manner.
5. n. The act of sniffing; a single short audible inspiration through the nose.
6. n. Perception of smell obtained by inhaling audibly; that which is taken by sniffing: as, a sniff of fresh air.
7. n. The sound produced by passing the breath through the nose with a quick effort; a short, quick snuffle.

Wiktionary

1. n. An instance of sniffing.
2. n. A quantity of something that is inhaled through the nose
3. n. A brief perception
4. v. transitive, intransitive To make a short, audible inhalation, through the nose, as if to smell something.
5. v. To say something while sniffing, for example in case of illness or unhappiness
6. v. transitive To perceive vaguely
7. v. To be dismissive or contemptuous of something.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To draw air audibly up the nose; to snuff; -- sometimes done as a gesture of suspicion, offense, or contempt.
2. v. To draw in with the breath through the nose.
3. v. To perceive as by sniffing; to snuff, to scent; to smell.
4. n. The act of sniffing; perception by sniffing; that which is taken by sniffing.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. inhale audibly through the nose
2. n. sensing an odor by inhaling through the nose
3. v. perceive by inhaling through the nose