Word of the Day for Thursday, March 22, 2012
moschate \MOS-keyt\,
adjective: Having a musky smell.
Her familiar perfume and moschate odor was overwhelming within the confines of the car, especially with the windows rolled up.
-- Charles Ray Willeford, "New Hope for the Dead"
The plant of the Rio Grande is said by Mr. Schott to exhale a moschate odor.
-- William Hemsley Emory, "Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, Volume 2, Part 1"
Though moschate has Latin roots, it was not used widely in English until the early 1800s. The word mosch meant "musky" in Latin and was used to describe the wine commonly known today at "muscat."
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