Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular presenttense perfumes, present participle perfuming, past tense, past participle perfumed
1. variable noun
Perfume is a pleasant-smelling liquid that you can put on your skin to make yourself smell nice.
The hall smelled of her mother's perfume.
...a bottle of perfume.
...the manufacture of soaps and perfumes.
Synonyms: fragrance, scent, essence, incense More Synonyms of perfume
2. variable noun
Perfume is the ingredient that is added to some products to make them smell nice.
...a delicate white soap without perfume.
...a perfume for skin creams.
3. countable noun [with poss]
The perfume of something is the pleasant smell it has.
[literary]
...the perfume of roses.
There were two lemon trees and I paused to enjoy their perfume.
Synonyms: scent, smell, fragrance, bouquet More Synonyms of perfume
4. verb
If the smell of something perfumes a place or area, it makes it smell nice.
[literary]
Flowers started to perfume the air. [VERB noun]
As they bake, they perfume the whole house with the aroma of apples and spices. [VERB noun with noun]
...gardens perfumed with jasmine. [VERB noun with noun]
5. verb
If something is used to perfume a product, it is added to the product to make it smell nice.
The oil is used to flavour and perfume soaps, foam baths, and scents. [VERB noun]
...shower gel perfumed with the popular Paris fragrance. [V-ed + with]
perfume in British English
noun (ˈpɜːfjuːm)
1.
a mixture of alcohol and fragrant essential oils extracted from flowers, spices, etc, or made synthetically, used esp to impart a pleasant long-lasting scent to the body, stationery, etc
See also cologne, toilet water
2.
a scent or odour, esp a fragrant one
verb (pəˈfjuːm)
3. (transitive)
to impart a perfume to
Word origin
C16: from French parfum, probably from Old Provençal perfum, from perfumar to make scented, from per through (from Latin) + fumar to smoke, from Latin fumāre to smoke
perfume in American English
(pərˈfjum; also, and for n. usually, ˈpɜrˌfjum)
verb transitiveWord forms: perˈfumed or perˈfuming
1.
to fill with a fragrant or pleasing odor; scent
2.
to put perfume on; dab, spray, etc. with perfume
noun
3.
a pleasing smell or odor; sweet scent, as of flowers; fragrance
4.
a substance producing a fragrant or pleasing odor; esp., a volatile oil, as that extracted from flowers, or a substance like this prepared synthetically
SIMILAR WORDS: scent
Word origin
MFr parfumer < It perfumare < L per-, intens. + fumare, to smoke < fumus, smoke: see fume
Examples of 'perfume' in a sentence
perfume
It comes with two bottles of perfumed lotion.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
And for our clients, it is the pleasure of wearing perfume.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The afternoon morphs into a perfume class, smelling essential oils that form the base of most perfumes.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The new perfumes contain historical references yet don't feel old-fashioned.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Neither is it about going along to the perfume shop, smelling each scent in turn, and picking out the best one.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Christianity Today (2000)
The perfume house has led the recent trend in celebrity fragrances.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
How can those things make so much perfume?
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Online cosmetics and perfume retailing was still new.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
You can tell them apart from other mushrooms because of the perfume smell they have.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
This handy gizmo has a valve to refill it from a larger perfume bottle.
The Sun (2014)
It adds a wonderful anise and perfumed aroma.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
It is used to perfume soaps and other bath preparations.
Guyton, Anita The Natural Beauty Book - cruelty-free cosmetics to make at home (1991)
Both can be snipped to bring some of their welcome perfume into the house.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Can a perfume really make smell younger?
The Sun (2008)
No one in a pharmaceutical business really respects cosmetics and perfumes.
Peter F. Drucker MANAGEMENT: task, responsibilities, practices (1974)
He has been doused in four different perfumes and two skincare brands have given him eye cream samples.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
She's got a lot of products and perfumes.
The Sun (2008)
When you're a widow no one buys you perfume any more.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
She likes to take care of herself and always wears make-up and perfume.
The Sun (2010)
There was a strange, heady scent of perfume and hot wax.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Then the wedding cake in a tea box that had the dry fragrance of the perfumed East.
Smout, T.C. & Wood, Sydney Scottish Voices 1745-1960 (1990)
When the sun shone and temperatures climbed, its perfume filled the air.
The Sun (2008)
IT can be very daunting wandering around a perfume hall trying to pick the perfect scent for your loved one.
The Sun (2014)
Like photographs or the smell of your mother 's perfume, they bring people back.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
In other languages
perfume
British English: perfume /ˈpɜːfjuːm/ NOUN
Perfume is a pleasant-smelling liquid which women put on their necks and wrists to make themselves smell nice.
The hall smelled of her mother's perfume.
American English: perfume
Arabic: عِطْرٌ
Brazilian Portuguese: perfume
Chinese: 香水
Croatian: parfem
Czech: parfém
Danish: parfume
Dutch: parfum
European Spanish: perfume
Finnish: hajuvesi
French: parfum
German: Parfüm
Greek: άρωμα
Italian: profumo
Japanese: 香水
Korean: 향수
Norwegian: parfyme
Polish: perfumy
European Portuguese: perfume
Romanian: parfum
Russian: духи
Latin American Spanish: perfume
Swedish: parfym
Thai: น้ำหอม
Turkish: parfüm
Ukrainian: парфуми
Vietnamese: nước hoa
British English: perfume VERB
If the smell of something perfumes a place or area, it makes it smell nice.