See Also: incense(medicine)
incense(1)(dictionary)
incense(2)(dictionary)
incense(3)(dictionary)
incense(encyclopedia)
incense 1, noun(dictionary)
incense 2, verb(dictionary)
The Incense Route-Desert Cities in the Negev(tourism)

incense(1) (iou)



incense noun. Also (earlier) encense. ME.
[Old & mod. French encens from ecclesiastical Latin incensum use as noun of neut. of incensus pa. pple of incendere set fire to, formed as IN-2 + root of candere to glow.]
a. An aromatic gum or spice used for producing a sweet smell when burned. ME.
P. S. Buck He burned a little incense before them.
b. The smoke or perfume of this, esp. when burned as part of religious ceremonial. LME.
male incense: see MALE adjective & noun.
M. Cox Palm Sunday found Monty..in Milan Cathedralall banners and incense.
Orig., the smoke or odour of a burnt sacrifice. Later, a pleasant perfume or fragrance. ME.
Shelley The matin winds from the expanded flowers Scatter their hoarded incense.
fig. Something offered in homage; prayer, praise, flattery. LME.
H. Reed The incense of flattery which his satellites were forever burning beneath his nostrils.
Comb.: incense-cedar a cedar of western N. America, Calocedrus decurrens, whose leaves smell of turpentine when bruised; incense tree any of various tropical trees yielding fragrant gum; esp. Protium heptaphyllum, of the torchwood family, of S. America; incense-wood the wood of Protium heptaphyllum (see incense tree above).