Damp smell, then I died (5)
I believe the answer is:
humid
'damp' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'smell then i died' is the wordplay.
'smell' becomes 'hum' (something with a bad smell is 'humming').
'then' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'hum'+'i'+'d'='HUMID'
(Other definitions for humid that I've seen before include "Moist (atmosphere)" , "Describes air that contains a great deal of water vapour" , "Muggy" , "Dank" , "(Of atmosphere) with high water vapour content" .)