perfume

noun

1. 1

   A pleasant smell; the scent, odor, or odoriferous particles emitted from a sweet-smelling substance; a pleasant odor.

   Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

   Among the Turks, an exciting compound consists of olibanum, myrrh, camphor, musk, in pulverized form. The resultant perfume is said to affect the genitals.

2. 2

   A substance created to provide a pleasant smell or one which emits an agreeable odor.

   She bought a perfume at the airport.

   The market for prestige perfumes is pretty much restricted to what industry economists call “gotrocks ladies”—women in households with annual incomes over $40,000 and who are over forty but still young enough to have a sense of smell (Elizabeth Taylor, for instance).

   The perfume industry is facing a major problem: maintaining constant levels of quality is crucial, but it is increasingly difficult to obtain a regular supply of all the necessary natural ingredients.

verb

1. 1

   To apply perfume to; to fill or impregnate with a perfume; to scent.

Forms

plural

perfumes

past tense

perfumed

past participle

perfumed

present participle

perfuming

third person singular

perfumes