smelling
v.v. to use your nose to notice a scent or odor. You do this when you want to find out how food, flowers, or the air around you smells.
v. perceiving an odor by means of the olfactory nerves. This present participle form can function as the main verb in continuous tenses or as a gerund.
She is smelling the flowers in the garden.
I could tell the bread was ready because I started smelling the fresh yeast from the other room.
While walking through the spice market, smelling the pungent aromas of cumin and coriander reminded him of his childhood in Istanbul.
When used as a stative verb to describe a quality (e.g., 'it smells good'), it does not take the continuous '-ing' form.
I am smelling a strange odor right now.I smell a strange odor right now.When 'smell' refers to the involuntary perception of a scent rather than a deliberate action, the simple present is preferred over the continuous form.