scent
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: sĕnt
ipa: /sɛnt/
rhymes: -ɛnt
homophone: cent
homophone: sent
Forms: form: scents
form: sent
Etymology: From Middle English sent (noun) and senten (verb), from Old French sentir (“to feel, perceive, smell, sense”), from Latin sentīre (“to feel, sense”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”), and thus related to Saterland Frisian Sin (“sense”), West Frisian sin (“sense”), Dutch zin (“sense, meaning”), Low German Sinn (“sense”), Luxembourgish Sënn (“sense, perception”), German Sinn (“sense”). The -c- appeared in the 17th century, possibly by influence of ascent, descent, etc., or by influence of science.
Senses: examples: text: the scent of flowers / of a skunk
text: to give off / release / exude a scent
text: to breathe in / inhale a scent
text: hunger and thirst at once, / Powerful perswaders, quick’nd at the scent / Of that alluring fruit,
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VIII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 586-588:
text: The scent of these arm-pits is aroma finer than prayer,
ref: 1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, page 49:
text: Behind me the forest stood wrapped in mist, its scents still sleeping.
ref: 1973, Mary Stewart, The Hollow Hills, New York: William Morrow, Book 3, p. 357:
text: The air is thick with the unexpected scent of rain.
ref: 2014, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, chapter 32, in Dust, London: Granta Books, page 289:
synonyms: aroma
bouquet
fragrance
nosegay
odor
perfume
redolence
smell
glosses: A distinctive smell.
examples: text: The dogs picked up / caught the scent but then quickly lost it.
text: He […] twice to-day pick’d out the dullest scent; / Trust me, I take him for the better dog.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
text: But see how the dogs puzzle about there. Come, Mr Frank, the scent’s cold;
ref: 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], Rob Roy. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 151:
glosses: A smell left by an animal that may be used for tracing.
examples: text: I believe the bloodhound has the best scent of all dogs.
text: His houndes espyde him where he was, and Blacksoote first of all / And Stalker speciall good of sent began aloud to call.
ref: 1567, Ovid, “The Third Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, folio 33, recto:
text: No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring:
ref: 1759, Samuel Johnson, chapter 29, in The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, Philadelphia: Robert Bell, published 1768, page 113:
text: [I]nnumerable flowers, sweet to the scent and the eyes
ref: 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume II, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 76:
text: Keen is the scent of the slaveholder; like the fangs of the rattlesnake, his malice retains its poison long; and, although it is now nearly seventeen years since I made my escape, it is well to be careful, in dealing with the circumstances relating to it.
ref: 1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 21, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York; Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC, part I (Life as a Slave), page 322:
synonyms: olfaction
glosses: The sense of smell.
examples: text: a scent shop
text: a scent bazaar
text: He was drowned in scent—fairly stunk with it, Captain Marlow.
ref: 1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter VI, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 66:
text: He receives deputations from the bazaar, and they all chew betel nut and smear one another’s hands with scent.
ref: 1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, chapter 22, in A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC, part II (Caves), page 197:
text: He took a clean handkerchief (a lovely one such as you couldn’t buy today) out of the little left-hand drawer and put a few drops of scent on it.
ref: 1955, C. S. Lewis, chapter 6, in The Magician’s Nephew, New York: HarperCollins, published 2010:
text: He went tripping away under a canvas umbrella, trailing the smell of cheap scent.
ref: 2014, Damon Galgut, chapter 6, in Arctic Summer, McClelland & Stewart, page 285:
synonyms: aftershave
cologne
eau de toilette
perfume
toilet water
glosses: A substance (usually liquid) created to provide a pleasant smell.
examples: text: The minister's off-hand remark put journalists on the scent of a cover-up.
text: The tip put the detectives on a false scent / the wrong scent.
text: to pick up a scent / get scent of something
translation: discover one of a series of clues in the trail of evidence
english: discover one of a series of clues in the trail of evidence
text: to throw / put someone off the scent
translation: distract them from following the trail of evidence
english: distract them from following the trail of evidence
text: Mrs. Wilkins having […] by Accident, gotten a true Scent of the above Story […] failed not to satisfy herself thoroughly of all the Particulars,
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter V, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume I, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book II, page 71:
text: Before marriage it is their business to please men; and after, with a few exceptions, they follow the same scent with all the persevering pertinacity of instinct.
ref: 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Some Instances of the Folly which the Ignorance of Women Generates; with Concluding Reflections on the Moral Improvement that a Revolution in Female Manners may Naturally be Expected to Produce”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1792, →OCLC, page 435:
text: Gullivant had to be firmly identified with Compton, the convict, in such a way as to bring the police hot on the scent.
ref: 1926, Nevil Shute, chapter 3, in Marazan, London: Cassell:
glosses: Any trail or trace that can be followed to find something or someone, such as the paper left behind in a paperchase.
examples: text: A fit false dreame, that can delude the sleepers sent.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 15:
glosses: Sense, perception.
Derived terms: afterscent
false scent
forescent
hay-scented fern
information scent
overscent
scent-bottle
scented
scentful
scent gland
scent hound
scentless
scentmaker
scent mark
scent pad
scentscape
underscent
Related terms: olfactory