Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To set on fire; cause to burn; inflame; kindle.
- To make hot or eager; enkindle; incite; stimulate.
- In particular To burn as incense; use in burning incense.
- To enkindle or excite to anger or other passion; inflame; make angry; provoke.
- Synonyms Irritate, Provoke, etc. (see
exasperate ), offend, anger, chafe, nettle, gall. - To perfume with incense.
- To offer incense to; worship; flatter extravagantly.
- To burn or offer incense.
- noun Any aromatic material, as certain gums, which exhales perfume during combustion; a mixture of fragrant gums, spices, etc., with gum-resin, compounded for the purpose of producing a sweet odor when burned.
- noun The perfume or scented fumes arising from an odoriferous substance, as frankincense, during combustion; the odor of spices and gums burned as an act of worship in some religious systems.
- noun Any grateful odor, as of flowers; agreeable perfume or fragrance.
- noun Figuratively, gratifying admiration or attention; flattering regard and deference; homage; adulation.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To set on fire; to inflame; to kindle; to burn.
- transitive verb To inflame with anger; to enrage; to endkindle; to fire; to incite; to provoke; to heat; to madden.
- transitive verb obsolete To offer incense to. See
Incense . - transitive verb To perfume with, or as with, incense.
- noun The perfume or odors exhaled from spices and gums when burned in celebrating religious rites or as an offering to some deity.
- noun The materials used for the purpose of producing a perfume when burned, as fragrant gums, spices, frankincense, etc.
- noun Also used figuratively.
- noun the name of several balsamic trees of the genus Bursera (or Icica) mostly tropical American. The gum resin is used for incense. In Jamaica the
Chrysobalanus Icaco , a tree related to the plums, is calledincense tree . - noun the fragrant wood of the tropical American tree
Bursera heptaphylla .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
perfume often used in therites of variousreligions . - verb transitive To
anger orinfuriate . - verb archaic To incite, stimulate.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make furious
- verb perfume especially with a censer
- noun a substance that produces a fragrant odor when burned
- noun the pleasing scent produced when incense is burned
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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_ On other days there was a certain measure of incense for the golden Altar: on this day there was a greater quantity for both the Altar and the most holy Place, and therefore it is called _much incense_.
Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John Isaac Newton 1684
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Instead of being himself pleased with the fat of their sacrifices, he will show himself displeased by throwing the dung of them in their faces, which he does, in effect, when he says, Bring no more vain oblations; your incense is an abomination to me.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721
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The "incense" is figurative of prayers (Ps 141: 2; Re 8: 3).
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The priest and subdeacon do not participate in the bringing back of the Sacrament; incense is not used.
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Copal incense is a part of traditional Maya religious ritual.
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I find most of it to be positive stroking wrapped in incense and dubious mythology and executed incompetently at best.
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I find most of it to be positive stroking wrapped in incense and dubious mythology and executed incompetently at best.
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Charcoal creates a great deal of smoke and dust, and if you're in the same house where incense is burning, you are inhaling a lot of things you shouldn't.
Home Scents 2006
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Religiously significant Tibetan incense is believed to be capable of driving away evil.
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A small ceramic brazier placed on the altar is used for burning copal, a pine resin incense the Aztecs used long ago in offerings to their gods.
arby commented on the word incense
I love this word but I was just thinking yesterday about how I like the verb form even better than the noun - so to that end I'm going to list incensed if it hasn't been already.
June 22, 2007
reesetee commented on the word incense
That's one of the fun things about listing a word. Everyone adds it for a different reason. I like the verb "incense" better than the noun too, arby, but I think I'll keep this version. :-)
June 22, 2007
fbharjo commented on the word incense
sweet smoke and mirrors??? glowing coals???
June 22, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word incense
"... Burning incense releases chemicals similar to human steroids that are thought to play a role in human sexual behavior. If so, something along these lines might contribute to a sense of emotional uplift, a feeling of exhilaration amenable to mild religious transport. Less contentiously, perhaps, there is a consensus that smell disrupts and stimulates the conventional workings of the mind: certain aromas have powers of association that can bend perceptions of time and place. As Rousseau observed, smell is the sense of memory and desire, and such evocative powers are arguably not entirely removed from the experience of religious transport. Smell is as ineffable and elusive as the gods themselves, wafting beyond the reach of the rational intellect."
--Jack Turner, _Spice: The History of a Temptation_ (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), 234
December 6, 2016