scent

Origin:
1325–75; (v.) earlier sent, Middle English senten < Middle French sentir to smell < Latin sentīre to feel; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the v. Cf. sense

Related forms

scent·less, adjective

scent·less·ness, noun

non·scent·ed, adjective

out·scent, verb (used with object)

o·ver·scent·ed, adjective

un·scent·ed, adjective

well-scent·ed, adjective

Can be confused: cents, scents, sense.

Synonyms
1. See odor. 7. smell, sniff.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To scent

Collins

World English Dictionary

scent (sɛnt)

—n
1.	a distinctive smell, esp a pleasant one
2.	a smell left in passing, by which a person or animal may be traced
3.	a trail, clue, or guide
4.	an instinctive ability for finding out or detecting
5.	another word (esp Brit) for perfume

—vb
6.	(tr) to recognize or be aware of by or as if by the smell
7.	(tr) to have a suspicion of; detect: I scent foul play
8.	(tr) to fill with odour or fragrance
9.	(intr) (of hounds, etc) to hunt by the sense of smell
10.	to smell (at): the dog scented the air

[C14: from Old French sentir to sense, from Latin sentīre to feel; see sense]

'scented

—*adj*

'scentless

—*adj*

'scentlessness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

scent

c.1400, from O.Fr. sentir "to feel, perceive, smell," from L. sentire " to feel, perceive, sense" (see sense). Originally a hunting term. The -c- appeared 17c., perhaps by influence of ascent, descent, etc., or by influence of science. The noun is first recorded late 14c.

Almost always applied to agreeable odors.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

scent

see throw off, def. 3.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia

scent

the property of certain substances, in very small concentrations, to stimulate chemical sense receptors that sample the air or water surrounding an animal. In insects and other invertebrates and in aquatic animals, the perception of small chemical concentrations often merges with perception via contact of heavy concentrations (taste), and with other chemoreceptive specializations. See also smell.

Learn more about scent with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Example sentences from the web

Floral bouquet containing the combination of several flowers in a scent.

Although blinded, the raging monster pursues them by their scent.

Any ant that enters a colony without a matching scent will be attacked.

Beagles are scent hounds, developed primarily for tracking hare, rabbit, and

other game.

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Related Words

odor check course drag smell trail

wind cast challenge hark perfume scent-mark

Idioms & Phrases

throw off

Matching Quote

"...there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease. Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant. But mortals die, and are laid low; humans expire, and where are they?"

-unknown author