Definition of "scent" in Anglais

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

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.

4. (chiefly uncountable) A substance (usually liquid) created to provide a pleasant smell.

   • a scent shop
   • a scent bazaar

5. (figuratively) 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 scent / the wrong scent.
   • to pick up a scent / get scent of something
   • to throw / put someone off the scent

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.

2. (ambitransitive) To inhale in order to detect the scent of (something).

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.

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.

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To have a smell; (figuratively) 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?

6. To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.