scent 
Depend on it that they're on the scent down there, and 
that, if he moved, he'd blow upon the thing at once. 
Dickens, Oliver Twist, xxvi. 
There is nothing more widely misleading than sagacity 
if it happens to get on a wrong scent. 
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, i. 8. 
Hence 5. Scraps of paper strewed on the 
ground by the pursued in the boys' game of hare 
and hounds, or by the "fox" in a paper-hunt, 
to enable the pursuers to track them or him. 
6f. Inkling ; faint knowledge or suspicion. 
Ill ne'er believe but (Vsar bath some scent 
Of bold Sejanus' footing. B. J ormm, Sejanus, iv. 5. 
Cold scent, a faint or weak scent discernible some time 
after an animal has passed. 
He was used for coursing the deer, but his nose was 
good enough for hunting even a cold scent. 
Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 34. 
Second scent. () The power of discerning things future 
or distant by the sense of smell. Moore. [Bare.] (b) Spe- 
cifically, the supposed faculty of discerning odors in some 
way distinct from ordinary physical means. To carry 
a scent, in fox-hunting, to follow the scent. = Syn. 1. 
Odor. Fragrance, etc. See smell. 
scent-bag (sent'bag),n. 1. The bag or pouch of 
an animal which secretes or contains a special 
odoriferous substance, as those of deer, beaver, 
skunks, etc.; a scent-gland. 2. A bag con- 
taining anise-seed or some other odoriferous 
substance, used in fox-hunting as a substitute 
for the fox. 
The young men . . . expended an immense amount of 
energy in the dangerous polo contests, [and] in riding at 
fences after the scent-bag. 
C. D. Warner, Little Journey in the World, xvl 
scent-bottle (sent'bofl), . A small bottle 
for holding perfume, either a decorative object 
for the toilet-table, or a vinaigrette or smelling- 
bottle carried on the person, 
scent-box (sent'boks), n. A box for perfume. 
A Cane with a Silver Head and Scent Box, and a Ferril 
of Silver at the Bottom. 
Advertisement, quoted in Ashton's Social Life, I. 158. 
scented (sen'ted), p. a. Imbued or permeated 
with perfume or fragrance; perfumed: as, 
scented soap Scented caper, a small, closely rolled 
black tea about the size of small gunpowder. It is col- 
ored, and bold as gunpowder tea. Scented fern. See 
/mil. 
scentful (sent'ful), a. [< scent + -//.] 1. 
Yielding much smell ; full of odor ; highly odor- 
iferous; scented. 
The icentfidl caraomill, the verdurous costmary. 
Drayton, Polyolbion, xv. 196. 
The sentfuU osprey by the rocke had lisli'd. 
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 3. 
2. Quick of scent; smelling well; having a 
good nose, as a dog. 
scent-gland (seut'gland), . An odoriferous 
gland ; a glandular organ which secretes any 
specially odoriferous substance, as musk or 
castoreum. Scent-glands are of many kinds in differ- 
ent animals, to which their peculiar odor is due, and they 
are for the most part of the category of secondary sexual 
organs, serving in the males to attract the females. The 
commonest are modified sebaceous follicles, which may 
be situated anywhere on the body. Preputial and anal 
glands are more specialized structures of this class, very 
highly developed in various animals, as the musk-deer, 
the beaver, civet-cats, most species of Mustelidx, etc. 
scent-holder (sent'hoT'der), . A vessel of 
ornamental character for holding perfumes, 
especially one having a cover pierced with 
holes. 
Spentinglyt (sen'ting-li), adv. Merely in pass- 
ing; allusively; not directly; with mere pass- 
ing reference or allusion. 
Yet I find but one man, Richard Smart by name (the 
more remarkable because but once, and that axntingly, 
mentioned by Mr. Fox), burnt at Salisbury. 
Putter, Worthies, Wiltshire, III. 322. 
scentless (sent'les), a. [< scent + -less.~\ 1. 
Having or yielding no scent; inodorous; not 
odoriferous. 
The scentless and the scented rose ; this red, 
And of an humbler growth, the other tall. 
Cowper, Task, vi. 151. 
Few are the slender flowerlete, scentless, pale, 
That on their ice-clad stems all trembling blow 
Along the margin of the unmelting snow. 
0. W. Holmes, Nearing the Snow-lane. 
2. Destructive of scent; conveying no scent, as 
for hunting: said of the weather. 
That dry scentless cycle of days. 
The Field, April 4, 1886. (Encyc. Diet.) 
scent-organ (sent'or'gan), . In zoiil., a scent- 
bag or scent-gland. Trie term is applied especially 
to odoriferous vesicles at the end of the abdomen of many 
insects, to extensile vesicles on the backs of certain larvae, 
and to organs in the thorax of other insects having minute 
external orifices called scent-pores at the sides of the 
metasternum, near the hind coxae, as in certain longicorn 
beetles. These organs are also called osmeteria. See re- 
pugnatorial, and cut under ometerium. 
6386 
scent-pore (sent'por), . In ento.,the orifice 
of a scent-organ, specifically of the metaster- 
nal scent-organs. See metasternal, 
scent-vase (sent'yas), n. A vessel with a 
pierced cover, designed to contain perfumes. 
Compare cassolette, 2. 
Scent-vesicle (sent' ves"i-kl), n. A vesicle con- 
taining odoriferous matter. 
scentwood (sent'wud), n. A low bushy shrub, 
Alyxia buxifolia, of the Apocynacese, found in 
Australia and Tasmania. Also Tonka-bean 
wood and heath-box. 
scepsis, n. See skepsis. 
scepter, sceptre (sep'ter), n. [Karly mod. E. 
also septer ; < ME. sceptre, septre, sceptour, sep- 
tor, < OF. sceptre, ceptre, F. sceptre = Sp. cetro 
= Pg. sceptro = It. scettro, scetro =. D. schepter 
= G. Sw. Dan. scepter, < L. sceptrum, < Gr. o-?jr- 
rpov, a staff to lean on, a scepter, < OKijirrttv, 
prop or stay (one thing against another), lean 
on, also dart, hurl, throw (cf. atafirrof, a gust or 
squall of wind); cf. Skt. ^ tehip, throw. See 
also scope 2 .] 1 . A staff of office of the charac- 
ter accepted as peculiar to royalty or indepen- 
dent sovereignty. Those existing, or which are repre- 
sented in trustworthy works of art of former times, have 
usually only a decorative character, but occasionally an 
emblem of religious or secular character occurs : thus, 
scepters are sometimes tipped with a cross, or with a small 
orb surmounted by a cross, or with a hand in the position 
of benediction, or with a royal emblem, such as the fleur- 
de-lis of France. In heraldry a scepter is generally repre- 
sented with a fleur-de-lis at the upper end, the rest of it 
being a staff ornamented in an arbitrary manner. 
I doute It for destany, and drede at the ende, 
Ffor lure and for losse of the londe hole ; 
Bothe of soile & of septor, soueraynly of you ; 
That we falle into forfet with our fre wille. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 2296. 
So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre. 
Esther v. 2. 
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe. 
Shat., Macbeth, ill. 1. 62. 
Two Scepters of massie gold, that the King and Queene 
do carrie in their hands at their coronation. 
Caryat, Crudities, 1. 45, Big. D. 
Hence 2. Royal power or authority: as, to 
assume the scepter. 
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver 
from between his feet, until Shiloh come. Gen. xlix. 10. 
King Charles's scepter. See Pedicularis. 
scepter, sceptre (sep'ter), v. t.; pret. and pp. 
sceptered, sceptred, ppr. sceptering, sceptring. 
[< scepter, w.J To give a scepter to; invest 
with royal authority, or with the emblem of 
authority. 
Thy cheeks buffeted, thy head smitten, thy hand scep- 
tred with a reed. Bp. Hall, Christ before Pilate. 
scepterdom, sceptredom (sep'ter-dum), . [< 
scepter + -dom.J If. Reign; period of wield- 
ing the scepter. 
In the scepterdome of Edward the Confessor the sands 
first began to growe into sight at a low water. 
Xashe, Lenten Stuffe (Harl. Misc., VI. 161). (Davies.) 
2. Imperial or regal authority. [Rare.] 
The Sabbath comes down to us venerable in all the 
hoariness of an immemorial antiquity, and imperial with 
all the sceptredom of the Creator's example. 
G. D. Boardman, Creative Week, p. 251. 
sceptered, sceptred (sep'terd), a. [< scepter 
+ -ed 2 .] Bearing a scepter; accompanied 
with a scepter; hence, pertaining to royalty; 
regal. 
This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, . . . 
This fortress, built by Nature for herself 
Against infection and the hand of war. 
Shak., Kich. n., ii. 1. 40. 
Where darkness, with her gloomy sceptred hand, 
Doth now command. 
B. Jonson, Underwoods, xliv. 
Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy 
In sceptred pall come sweeping by. 
Milton, n Penseroso, 1. 98. 
scepterless. sceptreless (sep'ter-les), a. [< 
scepter + -less.] Having no scepter, 
sceptic, sceptical, etc. See skeptic, etc. 
sceptral (sep'tral), a. [< L. sceptrum, a scepter, 
+ -a?.] Pertaining to or resembling a scepter; 
regal. 
Ministry is might, 
And loving servitude is sceptral rule. 
Bickersteth, Yesterday, To-day, and Forever, iv. 969. 
sceptre, sceptredom, etc. See scepter, etc. 
Sceptrum Brandenburgicum. [NL. : L. scep- 
trum, scepter; Srandeiiburgicttm, neut. of Bran- 
denburgiciis, of Brandenburg.] A constella- 
tion, the Scepter of Brandenburg, established 
by Gottfried Kirsch, a German astronomer, in 
1688. It consisted of four stars lying in a straight line, 
in the first bend of Eridanus, west of the Hare. The con- 
stellation was used by Bode early in the nineteenth cen- 
tury, but is now obsolete. 
schalstein 
Sceptrum et Manus Justiciae. [NL. : L. scep- 
trum, scepter; et, ami; iituinm, hand; Justiciae, 
gen. otjusticia, prop, justitia, justice.] A con- 
stellation established in 1679 by Rover in honor 
of Louis XIV., now displaced by Lacerta. 
sceptry (sep'tri), a. [< scepter, sceptre, + -y*.'] 
Bearing a scepter; sceptered; royal. [Rare.] 
His highness Ludolph's sceptry hand. 
Keats, Otho the Great, i. 1. (Danes.) 
scernet, i'. ' [< It. scernere, < L. discernerc, dis- 
cern: see discern.'] To discern. [Rare.] 
But, as he nigher drew, he easily 
Might scerne that it was not his'sweetest sweet. 
Spenser, F. Q., III. x. 22. 
sceuophorion (su-o-fo'ri-on), .; pi. sceuopho- 
ria (-&). [< LGr. aKci-otfidptov, < axevof, a vessel, 
+ fqMV = E. bear*.] In the Gr. Ch., a pyx or 
other receptacle for the reserved sacrament. 
Also artophorion. 
sceuophylacium (su"o-fi-la'shi-um), n. [< LGr. 
aKevtMpvAaKiov, GKvotf>i'^aKeiov, ji place for keeping 
the vessels, etc., used in religious service, in Gr. 
a place for baggage, etc., < anevotyvXaZ, a keeper 
of such vessels, etc. : see sceuophylax. ~\ In the 
early church and in the Greek Church, the 
treasury or repository of the sacred utensils: a 
part of the diaconicon or sacristy; hence, the 
whole diaconicon. Also skeuophylakion. 
They [the holy vessels, etc.] were kept in the sceuophy- 
lacium of the church. Bingham, Antiquities, VIII. x. 2. 
sceuophylax (su-of'i-laks), n. [< LGr. cKem<t>v- 
/oi, a keeper of the vessels, etc., used in reli- 
gious service, a sacristan, in Gr. a keeper of 
baggage, < onevof, a vessel, a utensil, + ^Waf, a 
watcher, guard.] In the early church and in the 
Greek Church, the officer having charge of the 
holy vessels and other treasures of the church; 
a sacristan. The great sceuophylax of the patriarch 
of Constantinople ranks next after the great sacellarius. 
He is custodian of the treasures of the patriarchate and 
of vacant churches. A similar officer to the sceuophylax 
in a nunnery is called the sceuophylacissa. Also sltcu- 
ophylax. 
SCh. A consonant sequence arising in Middle 
English (as well as in Middle Dutch, Middle 
High German, etc.) from the assibilation of sc, 
and now simplified to sh. See sh. For Middle 
English words in sell-, see sh-. 
schaap-stikker (skiip'stik'er), n. [9. African 
D., < D. schaap, = E. sheep, + stikker, choker, 
< stikken, choke.] A South African serpent of 
the family Coronellidx, Psammophylax rhom- 
beatus, very common at the Cape of Good Hope. 
It is a handsome little reptile, prettily marked, and agile 
in its movements. It lives on insects and small lizards, 
on which it darts with great swiftness. Its length is 
about 2 feet. 
schabrack, schabraque, . See shabrack. 
schabzieger (shap'tse"ger), . [G., < schaben, 
rub, grate (= E. shave), + zieger, green cheese, 
whey.] A kind of green cheese made in Swit- 
zerland : same as sapsago. Also written schap- 
ziger. 
schadonophan (ska-don'o-fan), . [< Gr. axa- 
Suv, axdiwv, the larva of some insects, + tyaiveiv, 
appear.] The early quiescent larval stage in 
the development of certain mites, as apoderma- 
tous trombidiids. H. Henking, 1882. 
Schaefferia (she-fe'ri-a), n. [NL. (Jacquin, 
1780), named after J. C. Sliaeffer (1718-90), a 
German naturalist.] A genus of polypetalous 
plants, of the order Celastrineee, tribe Celastreee, 
and subtribe Elseodendreee. It is characterized by 
dittcious flowers with four imbricated and orbicular se- 
pals, four petals, four stamens, a two-celled ovary, and 
a two-cleft stigma. The fruit is a dry drupe with two 
seeds which are without an aril. The 3 species are na- 
tives of the West Indies, Florida, Texas, and Mexico. 
They are smooth and rigid shrubs, with small coriaceous 
entire and obovate leaves, and small green or white flow- 
ers nearly or quite sessile in the axils. S. frutescens, 
a small tree of southern Florida and the neighboring 
islands, produces a valuable wood which from its color 
and hardness is known by the names of yellow-wood and 
boxwood. 
schah, . See shall. 
schaifet, An obsolete form of sheaf*. 
schako, . See shako. 
schalenblende (sha'len-blend), n. [G., <schale, 
shell (= E. scale* : see scale*, shale*), + blende, > 
E. blende.] A variety of sphalerite, or native 
zinc sulphid, occurring massive in curved lay- 
ers, often alternating with galena and marca- 
site. 
schalkt, See shaJk. 
schallot, . See shallot. 
schalstein (shal'stm), n. [G. schalstein, < schale 
(= E. scale*, shale*), shell, + stein = E. stone.'] 
A slaty or shaly variety of tufaeeous (volcanic) 
rock : little used in English. 
