overscent

Verb

overscent (third-person singular simple present overscents, present participle overscenting, simple past and past participle overscented)

1. (transitive) To give too much scent to (something or someone); to scent excessively.
   • He figured the big bear was coming in downwind and picking up his scent. “So I moved the bait station about 200 yards to a better location. Most bear hunters won’t make so many changes because they’re scared of overscenting the area. But I knew I had to make changes to kill that bear. […] ”1989, Dan Bertalan, Traditional Bowyers of America, East Lansing, MI: Envisage Unlimited, Chapter 10, p. 158
   • Licking articles is sometimes seen in an experienced dog when the handler is very nervous, has sweaty palms, and overscents the article.2003, Diane L. Bauman, chapter 39, in Beyond Basic Dog Training, Indianapolis: Howell Book House, page 179
2. (intransitive, reflexive) To apply too much scent to oneself.
   • It is never good taste to overscent one’s-self, but a person who uses no kind of artificial perfume at all, neither in soap nor in pomade, nor yet in the linen, is not always the most agreeable.1873, “Perfumes”, in Every Saturday, Series 3, Volume 3, No. 20, 17 May, 1873, p. 555
   • Cologne and perfume are nice but use in moderation. If you overscent, you run the risk that your interviewer dislikes the smell, or even has a bad reaction to it.2000, Ronni Eisenberg, Organize Your Job Search,, New York: Hyperion, page 155
3. To scent so as to cover or conceal the original odour.
   • having the stinch of his railing tongue, over-sented with the fragrant ointment of this Prince’s memory1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI), page 371
   • […] she feels the truck moving toward her, rattling the small-town night with its rough bellow, close enough now to scrape the low-hanging branches and overscent the gentle lilacs,1994, Phil Condon, “And Quinn”, in River Street, Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, page 93

Noun

UK/ˈəʊvəˌsɛnt/

overscent (plural overscents)

1. A scent that is added to or layered over another.
   • Through the broken windows of the wheelhouse came a stench compounded of bog and decay, the watery overscent of the thrusting river that had lured Sir Walter Raleigh toward a mythical El Dorado.1977, Edward S. Aarons, chapter 1, in Assignment Tiger Devil, Greenwich, CT: Fawcett, page 5
   • the familiar scent of his skin and the oddly boyish overscent of the wool sweater he wore1984, Ann Charlton, chapter 4, in No Last Song, New York: Harlequin, published 1985, page 67