| / English Dictionary |
ODOUR
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Any property detected by the olfactory system
Synonyms:
aroma; odor; odour; olfactory property; scent; smell
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("odour" is a kind of...):
property (a basic or essential attribute shared by all members of a class)
Attribute:
odorous (having odor or a characteristic odor)
inodorous; odorless; odourless (having no odor)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "odour"):
bouquet; fragrance; fragrancy; redolence; sweetness (a pleasingly sweet olfactory property)
fetidness; foulness; malodorousness; rankness; stinkiness (the attribute of having a strong offensive smell)
muskiness (having the olfactory properties of musk)
rancidness (the property of being rancid)
Derivation:
odourise (cause to smell or be smelly)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The sensation that results when olfactory receptors in the nose are stimulated by particular chemicals in gaseous form
Example:
she loved the smell of roses
Synonyms:
odor; odour; olfactory perception; olfactory sensation; smell
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("odour" is a kind of...):
aesthesis; esthesis; sensation; sense datum; sense experience; sense impression (an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "odour"):
scent (an odor left in passing by which a person or animal can be traced)
aroma; fragrance; perfume; scent (a distinctive odor that is pleasant)
fetor; foetor; malodor; malodour; mephitis; reek; stench; stink (a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant)
acridity (having an acrid smell)
Derivation:
odourise (cause to smell or be smelly)
Context examples:
These covers allow molecules such as carbon dioxide to pass through, while blocking others such as ammonia, which causes the foul odours.
(Scientists validate a new technology that transforms sewage sludge into fertilizer more efficiently, University of Granada)
At the bottom there was a dark, tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly odour, the odour of old earth newly turned.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
To say the truth, we were getting in no very good odour among the tip-top proctors, and were rapidly sliding down to but a doubtful position.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
There were eight of them,—the two watches below,—and the air was thick with the warmth and odour of their breathing, and the ear was filled with the noise of their snoring and of their sighs and half-groans, tokens plain of the rest of the animal-man.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
The odour which now filled the refectory was scarcely more appetising than that which had regaled our nostrils at breakfast: the dinner was served in two huge tin-plated vessels, whence rose a strong steam redolent of rancid fat.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
He advised great statesmen to examine into the diet of all suspected persons; their times of eating; upon which side they lay in bed; with which hand they wipe their posteriors; take a strict view of their excrements, and, from the colour, the odour, the taste, the consistence, the crudeness or maturity of digestion, form a judgment of their thoughts and designs; because men are never so serious, thoughtful, and intent, as when they are at stool, which he found by frequent experiment; for, in such conjunctures, when he used, merely as a trial, to consider which was the best way of murdering the king, his ordure would have a tincture of green; but quite different, when he thought only of raising an insurrection, or burning the metropolis.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
As a result of the treatment of these waters, millions of tons of sewage sludge are generated, filling landfills and generating pollution, unpleasant odours, and public health risks.
(Scientists validate a new technology that transforms sewage sludge into fertilizer more efficiently, University of Granada)
Presently he took an opportunity of telling Mrs. Westenra that she must not remove anything from Lucy's room without consulting him; that the flowers were of medicinal value, and that the breathing of their odour was a part of the system of cure.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
The very air of the best parlour, when I went in at the door, the bright condition of the fire, the shining of the wine in the decanters, the patterns of the glasses and plates, the faint sweet smell of cake, the odour of Miss Murdstone's dress, and our black clothes.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
In the morning, Thomas Mugridge being duly bribed, the galley is pleasantly areek with the odour of their frying; while dolphin meat is served fore and aft on such occasions as Johnson catches the blazing beauties from the bowsprit end.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
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