scent

Etymology

From c.1400, from Middle English sent (noun) and senten (verb), from Old French sentir (“to feel, perceive, smell”), from Old French sentire "to feel, perceive, sense", from Latin sentīre, present active infinitive of sentiō. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”), and thus related to Dutch zin (“sense, meaning”), German Sinn (“sense”), Low German Sinn (“sense”), Luxembourgish Sënn (“sense, perception”), Saterland Frisian Sin (“sense”), West Frisian sin (“sense”). The -c- appeared in the 17th century, possibly by influence of ascent, descent, etc., or by influence of science.

noun

1. A distinctive smell.
   the scent of flowers / of a skunk
   to give off / release / exude a scent
   to breathe in / inhale a scent
   Behind me the forest stood wrapped in mist, its scents still sleeping. 1973, Mary Stewart, The Hollow Hills, New York: William Morrow, Book 3, p. 357
   The air is thick with the unexpected scent of rain. 2014, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, chapter 32, in Dust, London: Granta Books, page 289
2. 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. The sense of smell.
   I believe the bloodhound has the best scent of all dogs.
   No man can taste the fruits of autumn while he is delighting his scent with the flowers of the spring: 1759, Samuel Johnson, chapter 29, in The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, Philadelphia: Robert Bell, published 1768, page 113
4. (chiefly uncountable) A substance (usually liquid) created to provide a pleasant smell.
   a scent shop
   a scent bazaar
   He took a clean handkerchief (a lovely one such as you couldn’t buy today) out of the little left-hand drawer and put a few drops of scent on it. 1955, C. S. Lewis, chapter 6, in The Magician’s Nephew, New York: HarperCollins, published 2010
   He went tripping away under a canvas umbrella, trailing the smell of cheap scent. 2014, Damon Galgut, chapter 6, in Arctic Summer, McClelland & Stewart, page 285
5. (figurative) 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.
   The tip put the detectives on a false / the wrong scent.
   to pick up a scent / get scent of something ― discover one of a series of clues in the trail of evidence
   to throw / put someone off the scent ― distract them from following the trail of evidence
   Gullivant had to be firmly identified with Compton, the convict, in such a way as to bring the police hot on the scent. 1926, Nevil Shute, chapter 3, in Marazan, London: Cassell
6. (obsolete) Sense, perception.

verb

1. (transitive) To detect the scent of; to discern by the sense of smell.
   The hounds scented the fox in the woods.
   if she had scented danger in the air, as a dog scents the presence of some creature unseen, her alarm could not have displayed itself more suddenly 1860, Wilkie Collins, “The Woman in White”, in London, volume 3, Sampson Low, Son, & Co., page 334
   Why, Maggie could scent a fire before it started, almost. 1988, Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons, Penguin, Part 3, Chapter 2, p. 279
2. (transitive, intransitive) To inhale in order to detect the scent of (something).
   I paused to scent the breeze as I entered the valley. 1899, W. E. B. Du Bois, “A Negro Schoolmaster in the New South”, in The Atlantic Monthly, volume 83, page 103
   One night he sprang from sleep with a start, eager-eyed, nostrils quivering and scenting, 1903, Jack London, chapter 7, in The Call of the Wild, New York: Macmillan, page 201
3. (transitive, figurative) To have a suspicion of; to detect the possibility of (something).
   I scented trouble when I saw them running down the hill towards me.
   Cope seemed to scent a challenge and accepted it. 1919, Henry Blake Fuller, chapter 11, in Bertram Cope’s Year, Chicago: R.F. Seymour, page 105
   A mysterious scene to me then—yet I scented that there was something momentous about it, though I could not tell what. 1978, Lawrence Durrell, chapter 1, in Livia, London: Faber and Faber, page 48
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.
   Balm, from a Silver box distill’d around, / Shall all bedew the roots and scent the sacred ground; 1685, John Dryden, “The Epithalamium of Helen and Menelaus”, in Sylvæ, or, The Second Part of Poetical Miscellanies, London: Jacob Tonson, page 105
   [Vanilla pods] have a fat rich aromatic taste, and most agreeable flavour; on which account they are used to scent the chocolate. 1796, John Gabriel Stedman, chapter 25, in Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition, volume 2, London: J. Johnson & J. Edwards, page 235
   You adorn yourself and scent yourself and sit with him in a comfortable way 1999, Ahdaf Soueif, chapter 18, in The Map of Love, London: Bloomsbury, page 300
5. (intransitive, obsolete) To have a smell; (figurative) to give an impression (of something).
   1647, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, The False One, Act III, Scene 2, in Fifty Comedies and Tragedies, London: John Martyn et al., p. 325, I smell him now: fie, how the Knave perfumes him, / How strong he scents of Traitor?
   though praying for a wounded Conscience may seemingly scent of pretended humility, it doth really and rankly savour of pride, 1647, Thomas Fuller, The Cause and Cure of a Wounded Conscience, London: John Williams, Dialogue 21, page 154
6. To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.