scenting

Verb

scent (third-person singular simple present scents, present participle scenting, simple past and past participle scented)

1. (transitive) To detect the scent of; to discern by the sense of smell.
   • The hounds scented the fox in the woods.

   Synonyms:

   smell

2. (ambitransitive) 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

   Synonyms:

   sniff, smell

3. (figuratively, transitive) To have a suspicion of; to detect the possibility of (something).
   • I scented trouble when I saw them running down the hill towards me.

   Synonyms:

   detect, discern, perceive, sense

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.

   Synonyms:

   perfume, odorize

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To have a smell; (figuratively) to give an impression (of something).
   • Thunderbolts & lightnings […] do sent strongly of brimstone:1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXV.] 15.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus....

   Synonyms:

   smell

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

See all 12 meanings of scent