forescent

English

Etymology

fore- +‎ scent

Pronunciation

• (verb) IPA^(key): /ˌfɔː(ɹ)ˈsɛnt/
• (noun) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔː(ɹ)ˌsɛnt/

Verb

forescent (third-person singular simple present forescents, present participle forescenting, simple past and past participle forescented)

1. To detect the scent of (something) before it is present.
   • 1849, John Griffith Mansford, Anno Mundi 1656, and Anno Domini 1849‎^[1], London: Nisbet & Co., page 6:

     birds and wild animals forescent a storm, or an earthquake

   • 1916, William Ellery Leonard (translator), Of the Nature of Things by Lucretius, London: J.M. Dent, Book 4, pp. 160-161,^[2]

     […] the white goose,
     The saviour of the Roman citadel,
     Forescents afar the odour of mankind.

2. (figuratively) To detect or become aware of (something) in advance.

   Synonyms: anticipate, foresee

   • 1872, Henry Norman Hudson, Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Boston: Ginn & Company, Othello, the Moor of Venice, p. 462,^[3]

     the sagacity with which Iago feels and forescents his way into Roderigo

   • 1915, Frederick Goodyear, letter to F.W. Leith Ross in Letters and Remains: 1887-1917, London: McBride, Nast, 1920, p. 94,^[4]

     Possibly we instinctively forescented the war.

Noun

forescent (plural forescents)

1. A scent that indicates something in advance.

   Coordinate term: afterscent

   • 1832, [Isaac Taylor], “chapter 13”, in Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC, page 229:

     an appalling forescent of his own near approaching discomfiture

   • 1920, anonymous translator, St. Bernard’s Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles‎^[5], Dublin: Browne & Nolan, Volume 2, Sermon 60, p. 190:

     The patriarchs and prophets inhaled the sweet odour of Christ, Who was preordained to be born and to die in the flesh; yet they did not then give forth the same odour, because they could not exhibit in the flesh Him of Whom they had a fore-scent in the spirit.

   • 1986, Charles R. Forker, chapter 1, in Skull Beneath the Skin: The Achievement of John Webster‎^[6], Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, page 79:

     An allusion to the garlic breath of the groundlings provides a forescent of the evil smells that pervade the Genoan court.

   • 1998, Niall Williams, Four Letters of Love‎^[7], New York: Warner Books, Part 7, Chapter 4, pp. 237-238:

     She opened the door on the night and felt the sudden damp forescent of autumn brush past her.