Incenses

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. To produce a pleasing aroma by igniting fragrant materials ; To permeate an environment with a delightful scent through combustion ; To elicit intense emotional reactions in someone, particularly anger or annoyance
2. To make someone extremely angry or irritated ; to cause a space to be filled with fragrant smoke by burning aromatic substances
3. To provoke or infuriate a person strongly ; to spread a pleasant aroma indoors by burning scented materials

Etymology: The sweet-smelling sense came first. "Incense" was borrowed into Middle English from Old French "encens", meaning a sweet-smelling substance, which itself came from Late Latin "incensum", literally "something burnt." The Latin word is the neuter past participle of "incendere", "to set on fire," so the name for fragrant smoke was built on the idea of burning. The anger sense grew out of the same fire. To incense someone was to kindle them, as if setting a flame under their temper, and the word took on that figurative meaning of stirring a person into fury. The two senses share a single origin: the smoke of the burning resin and the heat of a provoked temper both come from the Latin verb for setting alight. Old English had its own word for the substance, "rēcels", which English eventually lost in favour of the borrowed term.

Synonyms: fragrances, scents, aromas, odors, perfumes