нюхом чуять

• НЮХОМ ЧУЯТЬ (ЧУВСТВОВАТЬ) что; ЧУЯТЬ НОСОМ{{}}all coll

[VP; subj: human; fixed WO (var. with нюхом)]

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⇒ to be aware of, know, foresee sth. by intuition:

- X нюхом чует Y ≈ X senses Y;

- X realizes (knows) instinctively (that...);

- X can tell (that...);

- X can tell by some sixth sense (that...);

- X feels it in his bones;

- X feels (has a feeling) in his bones (that...);

- [in refer, to trouble, danger, a scandal etc] X sniffs Y (ahead);

|| [1st pers sing only] нюхом чую{{}}≈ something tells me.

     ♦ Забулдыги, взяточники и развратники нюхом чуяли в ней [начальнице лагеря] что-то чужое и отскакивали от неё, как, говорят, отскакивает волк от хищников другой породы (Гинзбург 2). Debauchees, bribe takers, and rakes sensed something alien about her [the camp commandant] and recoiled from her, just as a wolf, so they say, will recoil from other predators (2a).