Noun

Any smell, whether fragrant or offensive; scent; perfume.

* 1895 , H. G. Wells, The Time Machine Chapter X

Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing. Yet oddly enough I found here a far more unlikely substance, and that was camphor. I found it in a sealed jar, that, by chance, I supposed had been really hermetically sealed. I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odour of camphor was unmistakable.

(figuratively) A strong, pervasive quality.

Esteem; repute.

Noun

(-)

What is said or reported; gossip, rumour.

* 1667 , (John Milton), (Paradise Lost) , Book 1, ll. 651-4:

There went a fame in Heav'n that he ere long / Intended to create, and therein plant / A generation, whom his choice regard / Should favour […].

* 2012 , Faramerz Dabhoiwala, The Origins of Sex , Penguin 2013, p. 23:

If the accused could produce a specified number of honest neighbours to swear publicly that the suspicion was unfounded, and if no one else came forward to contradict them convincingly, the charge was dropped: otherwise the common fame was held to be true.

One's reputation.

The state of being famous or well-known and spoken of.

* (William Shakespeare)

I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.}}