Definition of "scent"

scent

/sɛnt/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural scents
1. A distinctive smell.
  Quotations
  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], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, 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, […], 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
  The air is thick with the unexpected scent of rain.
  2014, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, chapter 32, in Dust‎, London: Granta Books, page 289
2. A smell left by an animal that may be used for tracing.
  Quotations
  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, (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], chapter VII, in Rob Roy. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, page 151
3. The sense of smell.
  Quotations
  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 […], 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
  1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume II, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, 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 […], part I (Life as a Slave), page 322
4. (chiefly uncountable) A substance (usually liquid) created to provide a pleasant smell.
  Quotations
  He was drowned in scent—fairly stunk with it, Captain Marlow.
  1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter 6, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900, 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., 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
5. (figuratively) Any trail or trace that can be followed to find something or someone, such as the paper left behind in a paperchase.
  Quotations
  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, […], 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, chapter 13, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, […], published 1792
  Gullivant had to be firmly identified with Compton, the convict, in such a way as to bring the police hot on the scent.
  1926, Nevil Shute, chapter 3, in Marazan‎, London: Cassell
6. (obsolete) Sense, perception.
  Quotations
  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, page 15
verb
third-person singular simple present scents, present participle scenting, simple past and past participle scented
1. (transitive) To detect the scent of; to discern by the sense of smell.
  Quotations
  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, [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
2. (transitive, intransitive) To inhale in order to detect the scent of (something).
  Quotations
  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
  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
3. (transitive, figurative) To have a suspicion of; to detect the possibility of (something).
  Quotations
  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
4. (transitive) To impart an odour to, to cause to have a particular smell.
  Quotations
  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, 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
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To have a smell; (figuratively) to give an impression (of something).
  Quotations
  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, published 1635, page 557
  I smell him now: fie, how the Knave perfumes him, / How strong he scents of Traitor?
  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
  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
6. To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.

Definition of "scent"

scent

noun

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