scent

plural scents · alternative obsolete sent

1. countableuncountableA distinctive smell.

   to breathe in / inhale a scent

   5 more examples

   the scent of flowers / of a skunk

   to give off / release / exude a scent

   hunger and thirst at once, / Powerful perswaders, quick’nd at the scent / Of that alluring fruit,

   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

   The scent of these arm-pits is aroma finer than prayer,

   1892, Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”, in Leaves of Grass […], Philadelphia, Pa.: David McKay, publisher, […], →OCLC, page 49

   Behind me the forest stood wrapped in mist, its scents still sleeping.

   1973, Mary Stewart, The Hollow Hills, New York: William Morrow, Book 3, p. 357

   Synonyms: aroma, bouquet, fragrance, nosegay, odor, perfume, redolence, smell

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

   The dogs picked up / caught the scent but then quickly lost it.

   2 more examples

   He […] twice to-day pick’d out the dullest scent; / Trust me, I take him for the better dog.

   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)

   But see how the dogs puzzle about there. Come, Mr Frank, the scent’s cold;

   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

3. countableuncountableThe sense of smell.

   I believe the bloodhound has the best scent of all dogs.

   4 more examples

   His houndes espyde him where he was, and Blacksoote first of all / And Stalker speciall good of sent began aloud to call.

   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

   No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring:

   1759, Samuel Johnson, chapter 29, in The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, Philadelphia: Robert Bell, published 1768, page 113

   [I]nnumerable flowers, sweet to the scent and the eyes

   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

   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.

   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

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

   a scent shop

   5 more examples

   a scent bazaar

   He was drowned in scent—fairly stunk with it, Captain Marlow.

   1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter VI, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, →OCLC, page 66

   He receives deputations from the bazaar, and they all chew betel nut and smear one another’s hands with scent.

   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

   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.

   1955, C. S. Lewis, chapter 6, in The Magician’s Nephew, New York: HarperCollins, published 2010

   He went tripping away under a canvas umbrella, trailing the smell of cheap scent.

   2014, Damon Galgut, chapter 6, in Arctic Summer, McClelland & Stewart, page 285

   Synonyms: aftershave, cologne, eau de toilette, perfume, toilet water

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

   to throw / put someone off the scent

   distract them from following the trail of evidence

   5 more examples

   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

   discover one of a series of clues in the trail of evidence

   Mrs. Wilkins having […] by Accident, gotten a true Scent of the above Story […] failed not to satisfy herself thoroughly of all the Particulars,

   1749, Henry Fielding, chapter V, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume I, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book II, page 71

   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.

   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

6. countableobsoleteuncountableSense, perception.

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

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 15

present singular third person scents · participle present scenting · participle past scented · past scented · alternative obsolete sent

1. transitiveTo detect the scent of; to discern by the sense of smell.

   The hounds scented the fox in the woods.

   3 more examples

   methinks I scent the morning air.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]

   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

   1860, Wilkie Collins, “The Woman in White”, in London, volume 3, Sampson Low, Son, & Co., page 334

   Why, Maggie could scent a fire before it started, almost.

   1988, Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons, Penguin, Part 3, Chapter 2, p. 279

   Synonyms: smell

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

   I paused to scent the breeze as I entered the valley.

   1899, W. E. B. Du Bois, “A Negro Schoolmaster in the New South”, in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 83, page 103

   1 more example

   One night he sprang from sleep with a start, eager-eyed, nostrils quivering and scenting,

   1903, Jack London, chapter 7, in The Call of the Wild, New York: Macmillan, page 201

   Synonyms: sniff, smell

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

   I scented trouble when I saw them running down the hill towards me.

   2 more examples

   Cope seemed to scent a challenge and accepted it.

   1919, Henry Blake Fuller, chapter 11, in Bertram Cope’s Year, Chicago: R.F. Seymour, page 105

   A mysterious scene to me then—yet I scented that there was something momentous about it, though I could not tell what.

   1978, Lawrence Durrell, chapter 1, in Livia, London: Faber and Faber, page 48

   Synonyms: detect, discern, perceive, sense

4. transitiveTo impart an odour to, to cause to have a particular smell.

   Scent the air with burning sage before you begin your meditation.

   4 more examples

   Balm, from a Silver box distill’d around, / Shall all bedew the roots and scent the sacred ground;

   1685, John Dryden, “The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus”, in Sylvæ, or, The Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies, London: Jacob Tonson, page 105

   [Vanilla pods] have a fat rich aromatic taste, and most agreeable flavour; on which account they are used to scent the chocolate.

   1796, John Gabriel Stedman, chapter 25, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition, volume 2, London: J. Johnson & J. Edwards, page 235

   […] the air […] was scented, not disagreeably, by the chips and shavings of the long-shore boat-builders, and mast oar and block makers.

   1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VII, in Great Expectations […], volume III, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 103

   You adorn yourself and scent yourself and sit with him in a comfortable way—

   1999, Ahdaf Soueif, chapter 18, in The Map of Love, London: Bloomsbury, page 300

   Synonyms: perfume, odorize

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

   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?

   2 more examples

   Thunderbolts & lightnings […] do sent strongly of brimstone:

   1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXV.] 15.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 557

   though praying for a wounded Conscience may seemingly scent of pretended humility, it doth really and rankly savour of pride,

   1647, Thomas Fuller, The Cause and Cure of a Wounded Conscience, London: John Williams, Dialogue 21, page 154

   Synonyms: smell

6. To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.