Forms: (5 fetoure), 7–9 fætor, 6– fetor, fœtor. [a. L. fētor incorrectly fœtor), f. fētēre: see FETID.] An offensive smell; a stench.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun, 415.
| It heghts divers richesse hey welth, and grete honoure | |
| And filles a man at eende with rotynnesse and fetoure. |
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 313.
| Ilk da be da his dolour did incres, | |
| With foull fetor that wes intollerabill. |
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., IV. x. 201. The Fætor whereof may discover it self by sweat and urine.
1759. Phil. Trans., LI. 275. The fetor of these waters is not owing to mere stagnation.
1851. H. D. Wolff, Pictures Spanish Life (1853), 179. The fœtor of coke and oil will drown the perfume of the lily and the rose.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xix. 235. I have learned to prefer this flesh to the reindeer’s, at least of the female seal, which has not the fetor of her mate’s.
