Dictionary

odoriferous en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˌoʊdəˈɹɪfɹəs/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌəʊdəˈɹɪfɹəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌəʊdəˈɹɪfəɹəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌoʊdəˈɹɪfəɹəs/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Latin. By surface analysis, odor + -i- (“bearing, carrying”) + -ferous.

Meanings

1. Having an odor or fragrance.
   • The males, and rarely the females, of many kinds of bats have glands and protrudable sacks situated in various parts; and it is believed that these are odoriferous. 1874, Charles Darwin, “Secondary Sexual Characters of Mammals—continued”, in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. […], 2nd edition, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Part II (Sexual Selection), page 529:
   • True, the rich spices, the perfumed woods, the fragrant oils, which would feed the sacred fire of my funeral pyre, would save my mortal remains from that corruption which makes the disgust of death even worse than its dread. A few odoriferous ashes alone would be left for my urn. 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, The Enchantress, page 20:
   • Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished with the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous state. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 77, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
   • Frankini disguised as Mr. Beefo: "Who wants to get out and smell that wet beef?" Captain Man: "Me, I do, Me! Oh yes, so odoriferous!" 2018, Dan Schneider, Daniel Warren, “Magical Beefery Tour”, in The Adventures of Kid Danger, season 1, episode 7:
   • While most fetishists were content to own any pair of tiny shoes, there remained a fanatical group more focused in their kinky desires, demanding shoes that were especially odoriferous. 2005, Annabelle du Fouet, “The murky world from whence it all came” (chapter 2), in Weather Balloons Make Rotten Sex Toys, Ellora's Cave, →ISBN, page 40:
   • Lewis the eleventh had a conceit everything did stinke about him, all the odoriferous perfumes they could get, would not ease him, but still hee^([sic]) smelled a filthy stinke. 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], chapter 1, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 1, member 3:

Forms

Deriveds

odoriferously · unodoriferous · odoriferousness

Synonyms

odiferous · odoriferant · aromatic · odorous · fragrant