nosegay

Etymology

, Boy in a Turban Holding a Nosegay (between 1658 and 1662; sense 1)]] From Late Middle English nōsegai (?), from nōse (“nose”) (from Old English nosu, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nas- (“nose”)) + gai (“a bright or gay object; an ornament”) (from Old French gai (“cheerful, gay, happy”)); equivalent to nose + gay.

noun

1. A small bunch of fragrant flowers or herbs tied in a bundle, often presented as a gift; nosegays were originally intended to be put to the nose for the pleasant sensation or to mask unpleasant odours.
   Mr. [John] White joins with the reſt of his fellow-voyagers, in vindicating the characters of the Portugueſe ladies from the indiſcriminate cenſure which is caſt on them in Dr. Hawkſworth's account of Captain [James] Cook's firſt voyage: we muſt therefore conclude, that Dr. [Daniel] Solander, and the two gentlemen who were with him, muſt have miſtaken the intent of the noſegays which were ſo plentifully beſtowed on them by the ladies, from their balconies, as they walked through the ſtreets of this place in the evening. 1791 March, “Art. XV. Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, with Sixty-five Plates of Non-descript Animals, Birds, Lizards, Serpents, Curious Cones of Trees, and Other Natural Productions. By John White, Esq; Surgeon-general to the Settlement. 4to. pp. 334. 1l. 16s. Boards. Debrett. 1790.”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume IV, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, in Pall Mall, →OCLC, page 315
   Late on this same day the trail crossed a bare, rocky hillside, at one point passing between masses of stone ruins; something like a tower to the right, and on the left a sort of walled enclosure. I had lingered behind to gather a nosegay of the small blue flowers that marked the day's march. 1913 February, Elizabeth [Kimball] Kendall, “The Chien-Ch’ang”, in A Wayfarer in China: Impressions of a Trip across West China and Mongolia, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge [Mass.], →OCLC, page 79
2. (figurative) An aroma, a scent.
   The 80-year-old Government Opium and Alkaloid Works in Neemuch smells better than it looks. The turfy-chocolaty nosegay of raw opium wafts from hundreds of milk cans. 11 September 2007, Donald G[erald] McNeil, Jr., “In India, a quest to ease the pain of the dying”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2018-03-22