different between scent vs intimation

English

Alternative forms

• sent (obsolete)

Etymology

From c.1400, borrowed from Old French sentir (“to feel, perceive, smell”), from Old French sentire "to feel, perceive, sense", from Latin sent?re, present active infinitive of senti?. 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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?nt, IPA^(key): /s?nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt
• Homophones: cent, sent

Noun

scent (countable and uncountable, plural scents)

1. A distinctive odour or smell.

2. An odour left by an animal that may be used for tracing.

3. The sense of smell.

4. A perfume.
5. (figuratively) Any trail or trace that can be followed to find something or someone, such as the paper left behind in a paperchase.
6. (obsolete) Sense, perception.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:

     A fit false dream, that can delude the sleeper's sent.

Usage notes

• Almost always applied to agreeable odors (fragrances).

Synonyms

Derived terms

• scented
• scentless

Translations

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.
2. (transitive, figuratively) To have a suspicion of.

3. (transitive) To impart an odour to.
4. (intransitive, archaic) To have a smell.

   • Thunderbolts […] do sent strongly of brimstone.

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

Translations

Anagrams

• cents

English

Etymology

From Middle French intimation, from Latin intimatio

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??nt??me???n/
• Rhymes: -e???n

Noun

intimation (plural intimations)

1. The act of intimating.
2. The thing intimated.
3. Announcement; declaration.
   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Holland to this entry?)

     They made an edict with an intimation that whosoever killed a stork, should be banished.

4. A hint; an obscure or indirect suggestion or notice; a remote or ambiguous reference.
   • 1862, Henry David Thoreau, Walking:

     At length, perchance, the immaterial heaven will appear as much higher to the American mind, and the intimations that star it as much brighter.

   • 1975, Saul Bellow, Humboldt's Gift [Avon ed., 1976, p. 378:

     And actually I had important intimations to communicate as he faced the end. But intimations weren't much use.

Translations

Related terms

• intimacy
• intimate

References

• “intimation” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).