overscent

over- +‎ scent

• Verb:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌəʊvəˈsɛnt/

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

• Noun:
  • (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈəʊvəˌsɛnt/

  • Audio (RP)

    (file)

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.
   • 1989, Dan Bertalan, Traditional Bowyers of America, East Lansing, MI: Envisage Unlimited, Chapter 10, p. 158,

     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. […] ”

   • 2003, Diane L. Bauman, Beyond Basic Dog Training, Indianapolis: Howell Book House, Chapter 39, p. 179,

     Licking articles is sometimes seen in an experienced dog when the handler is very nervous, has sweaty palms, and overscents the article.

   • 2007, Shannon Lush, How to Be Comfy: Hundreds of Tips to Make Your House a Home, Sydney: ABC Books, p. 53,

     Adding aroma—by having fragrant flowers or flowering plants or using fragrant room sprays or candles—to a lounge/family room is lovely, but don’t overscent the room because it can increase, rather than decrease, tension and cause headaches!

2. (intransitive, reflexive) To apply too much scent to oneself.
   • 1873, “Perfumes,” Every Saturday, Series 3, Volume 3, No. 20, 17 May, 1873, p. 555,

     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.

   • 2000, Ronni Eisenberg, Organize Your Job Search, New York: Hyperion, p. 155,

     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.

   • 2012, Kay West, How to Raise a Lady, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, Chapter 11, p. 120,

     A young lady does not spray herself with so much sun-ripened raspberry body splash that she attracts bees. She particularly does not overscent herself if she is going to be in a confined space with captive companions.

   • 2013, Maureen Lindley, A Girl Like You, London: Bloomsbury, p. 293,

     “Just spray in front of you, dear girl,” he advises. “Then walk into the mist. It’s vulgar to overscent.”

3. To scent so as to cover or conceal the original odour.[1]
   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, James Nichols, editor, The Church History of Britain, […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), new edition, London: […] [James Nichols] for Thomas Tegg and Son, […], published 1837, OCLC 913056315, book, page 371:

     having the stinch of his railing tongue, over-sented with the fragrant ointment of this Prince’s memory

   • 1994, Phil Condon, “And Quinn” in River Street, Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, p. 93,

     […] 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,

overscent (plural overscents)

1. A scent that is added to or layered over another.

   Coordinate term: underscent

   • 1977, Edward S. Aarons, Assignment Tiger Devil, Greenwich, CT: Fawcett, Chapter 1, p. 5,

     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.

   • 1984, Ann Charlton, No Last Song, New York: Harlequin, 1985, Chapter 4, p. 67,

     the familiar scent of his skin and the oddly boyish overscent of the wool sweater he wore

   • 2000, Julie Czerneda, Changing Vision, New York: DAW, Chapter 1, p. 15,

     […] the stench of imminent death was almost more than I could bear. Worse was the overscent of abandonment.

   • 2006, Kerry Greenwood, Murder in the Dark, Scottsdale, AZ: Poisoned Pen Press, 2009, Chapter 4, p. 47,

     The air was cool and scented with sandalwood, a bracing, masculine scent. There was an overscent of hashish.