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scent

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scent

  • /sɛnt/

Sounds like cent, sent · Rhymes with -ɛnt

Where it comes from

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.

noun scents · sent

  1. countable, uncountable A distinctive smell. the scent of flowers / of a skunk
  2. countable, uncountable A smell left by an animal that may be used for tracing. The dogs picked up / caught the scent but then quickly lost it.
  3. countable, uncountable The sense of smell. I believe the bloodhound has the best scent of all dogs.
  4. uncountable A substance (usually liquid) created to provide a pleasant smell. a scent shop
  5. countable, figuratively, uncountable Any 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.
  6. countable, obsolete, uncountable Sense, perception. A fit false dreame, that can delude the sleepers sent.

verb scents · scenting · scented · sent

  1. transitive To detect the scent of; to discern by the sense of smell. The hounds scented the fox in the woods.
  2. ambitransitive To inhale in order to detect the scent of (something). I paused to scent the breeze as I entered the valley.
  3. figuratively, transitive To have a suspicion of; to detect the possibility of (something). I scented trouble when I saw them running down the hill towards me.
  4. transitive To impart an odour to, to cause to have a particular smell. Scent the air with burning sage before you begin your meditation.
  5. intransitive, obsolete To have a smell; (figuratively) to give an impression (of something). Thunderbolts & lightnings […] do sent strongly of brimstone:
  6. To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.

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