Meaning of smell the barn | Babel Free

Definitions

To act with renewed energy or speed or to experience heightened anticipation as one approaches a destination, goal, or other desired outcome.

US, idiomatic, intransitive

Equivalents

Examples

“We’ll get⟳ home right quick—old Dobbin knows the way better than you and I do, and he can smell⟳ the barn besides.”

“Anyhow, Congress, like⟳ the old horse that starts into a long deferred trot when she "smells the barn," began to show⟳ action and as hearts on Capitol Hill leaned homeward, thoughts in the White House turned to the open⟳ road—or at least the railroad.”

“[…] Charlie Company could leave⟳ as early as mid-October—which is soon but not quite soon enough for them. "The horses smell⟳ the barn right now," said Capt. Clark D. Carr, the battalion's Protestant chaplain, who knows perhaps better than anyone how badly they want⟳ to leave⟳.”

“Smelling the barn can result⟳ in driving too fast, not clearing weapons properly, and bypassing ammunition-recovery procedures.”

“Antyllus leaned his ear closer to the slave at his feet without taking his eyes off his over-eager team [of horses], which already smelt the barn ahead of them.”

“[H]e [Douglas MacArthur] had smelled the gunpowder again and in old age was once again the dashing young brigadier of World War I; […] This close⟳, he simply couldn't abide sitting still. Like⟳ a horse, he smelled the barn and was determined to push⟳ ahead.”

CEFR level