喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can think of scent as a smell that travels: something — a flower, a body, a plate of food — quietly gives off its own smell into the air, and that smell spreads out and hangs there for anyone (or any nose) to pick up. Everything else the word does grows out of that one picture: the smell can be and worn, it can be left behind as a trail, and a nose sharp enough to read the air can know things before it sees them.

可以想成一種會跑的氣味：一朵花、一個人的身體、一鍋菜，安靜地把自己的味道放進空氣裡，那味道散開來、留在那裡，等著誰的…更多收起可以想成一種會跑的氣味：一朵花、一個人的身體、一鍋菜，安靜地把自己的味道放進空氣裡，那味道散開來、留在那裡，等著誰的鼻子接到。scent 這個字幾乎所有用法都是從這張圖長出來的——味道可以被裝進瓶子擦在身上（香水）、可以被留在路上變成一條線索（動物的氣味），而一個夠靈的鼻子，還沒看見東西就已經知道有什麼在附近。名詞和動詞其實是同一張圖的兩面：名詞是「那個味道」，動詞是「把味道放出去」或「把味道接進來」。

原始詞典資料12 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

scentnoun/sɛnt/

  • 1

    A distinctive smell.

    • the scent of flowers / of a skunk
    • to give off / release / exude 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.
    • He […] twice to-day pick’d out the dullest scent; / Trust me, I take him for the better dog.
  • 3

    The sense of smell.

    • I believe the bloodhound has the best scent of all dogs.
    • His houndes espyde him where he was, and Blacksoote first of all / And Stalker speciall good of sent began aloud to call.
  • 4

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

    • a scent shop
    • a scent bazaar
  • 5

    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.
  • 6

    obsoleteSense, perception.

    • A fit false dreame, that can delude the sleepers sent.

scentverb/sɛnt/

  • 1

    To detect the scent of; to discern by the sense of smell.

    • The hounds scented the fox in the woods.
    • methinks I scent the morning air.
  • 2

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

    • I paused to scent the breeze as I entered the valley.
    • One night he sprang from sleep with a start, eager-eyed, nostrils quivering and scenting,
  • 3

    To have a suspicion of; to detect the possibility of (something).

    • I scented trouble when I saw them running down the hill towards me.
    • Cope seemed to scent a challenge and accepted it.
  • 4

    To impart an odour to, to cause to have a particular smell.

    • Scent the air with burning sage before you begin your meditation.
    • Balm, from a Silver box distill’d around, / Shall all bedew the roots and scent the sacred ground;
  • 5

    obsoleteTo have a smell; (figuratively) to give an impression (of something).

    • Thunderbolts & lightnings […] do sent strongly of brimstone:
    • 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.

資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。