scent

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   A distinctive smell.

   • the scent of flowers / of a skunk
   • to give off / release / exude a scent
   • to breathe in / inhale a scent
2. 2

   A smell left by an animal that may be used for tracing.

   • The dogs picked up / caught the scent but then quickly lost it.
   • He […] twice to-day pick’d out the dullest scent; / Trust me, I take him for the better dog.
   • But see how the dogs puzzle about there. Come, Mr Frank, the scent’s cold;
3. 3

   The sense of smell.

   • I believe the bloodhound has the best scent of all dogs.
   • His houndes espyde him where he was, and Blacksoote first of all / And Stalker speciall good of sent began aloud to call.
   • No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring:
4. ›+ 9 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      A substance (usually liquid) created to provide a pleasant smell.

      • a scent shop
      • a scent bazaar
      • He was drowned in scent—fairly stunk with it, Captain Marlow.
   2. 5

      Any trail or trace that can be followed to find something or someone, such as the paper…

      Any trail or trace that can be followed to find something or someone, such as the paper left behind in a paperchase.

      • The minister's off-hand remark put journalists on the scent of a cover-up.
      • The tip put the detectives on a false scent / the wrong scent.
      • to pick up a scent / get scent of something
   3. 6

      Sense, perception.

      • A fit false dreame, that can delude the sleepers sent.
   4. 7

      To detect the scent of

      To detect the scent of; to discern by the sense of smell.

      • The hounds scented the fox in the woods.
      • methinks I scent the morning air.
      • if she had scented danger in the air, as a dog scents the presence of some creature unseen, her alarm could not have displayed itself more suddenly
   5. 8

      To inhale in order to detect the scent of (something).

      • I paused to scent the breeze as I entered the valley.
      • One night he sprang from sleep with a start, eager-eyed, nostrils quivering and scenting,
   6. 9

      To have a suspicion of

      To have a suspicion of; to detect the possibility of (something).

      • I scented trouble when I saw them running down the hill towards me.
      • Cope seemed to scent a challenge and accepted it.
      • A mysterious scene to me then—yet I scented that there was something momentous about it, though I could not tell what.
   7. 10

      To impart an odour to, to cause to have a particular smell.

      • Scent the air with burning sage before you begin your meditation.
      • Balm, from a Silver box distill’d around, / Shall all bedew the roots and scent the sacred ground;
      • [Vanilla pods] have a fat rich aromatic taste, and most agreeable flavour; on which account they are used to scent the chocolate.
   8. 11

      To have a smell

      To have a smell; (figuratively) to give an impression (of something).

      • Thunderbolts & lightnings […] do sent strongly of brimstone:
      • 1647, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, The False One, Act III, Scene 2, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies, London: John Martyn et al., p. 325, I smell him now: fie, how the Knave perfumes him, / How strong he scents of Traitor?
      • though praying for a wounded Conscience may seemingly scent of pretended humility, it doth really and rankly savour of pride,
   9. 12

      To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.

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