underscent

underscent

English

Etymology

under- +‎ scent

Noun

underscent (plural underscents)

1. A scent that is perceptible but less prominent than other scents in a particular environment.

   Coordinate term: overscent

   • 1902, Marie Corelli, “Temporal Power”: A Study in Supremacy, London: Methuen, Chapter 18, p. 256,

     The under-scent of hidden violets among moss flowed potently upon the quiet air, mingled with strong pine-odours and the salt breath of the gently heaving sea,

   • 1968, M. K. Joseph, The Hole in the Zero, New York: Dutton, Chapter 4, p. 67,

     […] below her perfume lingered another perfume, more elusive, more aggressive, a man’s scent. Still staring into her eyes, he deliberately blanked his mind three times; and each time the first picture triggered in his mind by that underscent was the face of Billy Merganser.

   • 1999, Barbara Gowdy, The White Bone, New York: Picador, Chapter 8, p. 127,

     […] night is when the ground heaves up the distracting odours of burrowed life: catfish and reptiles, and the musk of regeneration in scorched roots. [footnote:] Known as underscents, these odours hover beneath the buoyant smells of dung, leaves, living animals and even slaughter.

   • 2013, Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, London: Vintage, 2014, p. 402,

     hermetically enclosed rooms that had the persistent, unpleasant underscent of chemicals