scent
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- //sɛnt//
A distinctive smell.
noun
- 1
A distinctive smell.
the scent of flowers / of a skunk
to give off / release / exude a scent
to breathe in / inhale a scent
hunger and thirst at once, / Powerful perswaders, quick’nd at the scent / Of that alluring fruit,
- 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
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:
[I]nnumerable flowers, sweet to the scent and the eyes
- 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.
He receives deputations from the bazaar, and they all chew betel nut and smear one another’s hands with scent.
- 5
figurativeAny 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
to throw / put someone off the scent
- 6
obsoleteSense, perception.
A fit false dreame, that can delude the sleepers sent.
Etymology
From Middle English sent (noun) and senten (verb), from Old French sentir (“to feel, perceive, smell, sense”), from Latin sentiō, 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.
verb
- 1
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
Why, Maggie could scent a fire before it started, almost.
- 2
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,
- 3
figurativeTo 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.
- 4
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.
[…] the air […] was scented, not disagreeably, by the chips and shavings of the long-shore boat-builders, and mast oar and block makers.
- 5
obsoleteTo 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,
- 6
To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.
Forms
- plural
- scents
- past tense
- scented
- past participle
- scented
- present participle
- scenting
- third person singular
- scents