SCENT

To perceive by the olfactory organs; to smell; as, to scent game, as a hound does. Methinks I scent the morning air. Shak.

To imbue or fill with odor; to perfume. Balm from a silver box distilled around, Shall all bedew the roots, and scent the sacred ground. Dryden.

To have a smell. [Obs.] Thunderbolts . . . do scent strongly of brimstone. Holland.

To hunt animals by means of the sense of smell.

That which, issuing from a body, affects the olfactory organs of animals; odor; smell; as, the scent of an orange, or of a rose; the scent of musk. With lavish hand diffuses scents ambrosial. prior.

Specifically, the odor left by an animal on the ground in passing over it; as, dogs find or lose the scent; hence, course of pursuit; track of discovery. He gained the observations of innumerable ages, and traveled upon the same scent into Ethiopia. Sir W. Temple.

The power of smelling; the sense of smell; as, a hound of nice scent; to divert the scent. I. Watts.