smell

About

"We were prepared for some unpleasantness, for as we were opening the door a faint, malodorous air seemed to exhale through the gaps, but none of us ever expected such an odour as we encountered. None of the others had met the Count at all at close quarters, and when I had seen him he was either in the fasting stage of his existence in his rooms or, when he was bloated with fresh blood, in a ruined building open to the air, but here the place was small and close, and the long disuse had made the air stagnant and foul. There was an earthy smell, as of some dry miasma, which came through the fouler air. But as to the odour itself, how shall I describe it? It was not alone that it was composed of all the ills of mortality and with the pungent, acrid smell of blood, but it seemed as though corruption had become itself corrupt. Faugh! It sickens me to think of it. Every breath exhaled by that monster seemed to have clung to the place and intensified its loathsomeness.

Under ordinary circumstances such a stench would have brought our enterprise to an end, but this was no ordinary case, and the high and terrible purpose in which we were involved gave us a strength which rose above merely physical considerations. After the involuntary shrinking consequent on the first nauseous whiff, we one and all set about our work as though that loathsome place were a garden of roses." - Dracula

malodorous - Having a bad odor; foul.

miasma - A poisonous atmosphere formerly thought to rise from swamps and putrid matter and cause disease.

putrid - Decomposed and foul-smelling; rotten.

acrid - Unpleasantly sharp, pungent, or bitter to the taste or smell.

pungent - Affecting the organs of taste or smell with a sharp acrid sensation.

stench -

reek -

fume - A strong or acrid odor.

petrichor - Petrichor is the pleasant smell that often accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather in certain regions.

fragrance

bouquet

aroma