See Also: Scent(medicine)
scent(1)(dictionary)
scent(2)(dictionary)
scent glands(medicine)
train-scent(dictionary)
scent 1, noun(dictionary)
scent 2, verb(dictionary)

scent(1) (iou)



scent noun. Also (earlier) sent. LME.
[from the verb.]
a. The faculty or sense of smell, esp. of a dog or other animal which finds objects or prey by this sense. LME.
N. Algren He shuffled on..finding his way toward food more by scent than by sight.
b. fig. The power of detecting or discovering a specified thing or things. L16.
J. G. Holland All of them had a scent for heresy.
a. The odour of an animal or person, perceptible to a hound etc. and used as a means of pursuit; a trail as indicated by this odour. LME.
J. Masefield The hounds..went nosing to the scent.
b. fig. A set of clues that can be followed like a trail. E17.
c. transf. In the game of hare and hounds, fragments of paper scattered on the ground by the quarry to serve as a track for the pursuers. M19.
gen. A distinctive, now esp. pleasant, odour, as of a flower etc. L15.
V. Brittain The city was sweet with the scent of wallflowers.
A sweet-smelling liquid prepared by distillation from a flower etc.; perfume. M18.
Times I..told the glamorous lady assistant that I wanted a bottle of scent.
Phrases: false scent a trail mistakenly believed to lead to the quarry, esp. one laid with the intention of deflecting pursuit or misleading or misdirecting an investigation. lose the scent (a) (of a pursuer) fail to follow a quarry's trail, be misled or misdirected; (b) (chiefly Hunting) (of a quarry) deflect pursuit from the trail, mislead or misdirect a pursuer. on the scent, on the right scent following a trail which leads to the quarry, pursuing the correct line of investigation. put off the scent, throw off the scent cause to lose the line of the quarry's trail, mislead or misdirect (a pursuer or an investigation). wrong scent = false scent above.
Comb.: scent-bag a bag containing a strong-smelling substance, drawn over ground to make an artificial scent for hounds; scent-bottle a bottle for perfume, esp. an ornamental one; scent gland Zoology a gland which secretes an odorous pheromone or defensive substance; scent marking Zoology the deposition by a mammal of a secreted pheromone, esp. on prominent objects in the area; scent scale Entomology any of various pheromone-secreting scales found in some male Lepidoptera and Trichoptera, esp. on the wings; scent tuft Entomology a pheromone-secreting brush found in some male Lepidoptera; a hair pencil; scent-wood an Australian shrub with fragrant wood, Alyxia buxifolia (family Apocynaceae).
? See note under the verb.
scentful adjective (long rare or obsolete) full of perfume; fragrant: E17.
scenty adjective (rare) smelling of scent; scented: M20.