cologne

Everyday

1. A light perfume, often for men, also called eau de cologne. tree →
2. (a name) Cologne is a large city on the River Rhine in western Germany, famous for its huge Gothic cathedral (Köln in German). tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life people splash on cologne before going out; in shops it is sold next to perfume. In geography and history, Cologne Cathedral took about 600 years to build and survived bombing in the Second World War. The perfume is named after the city where it was first made in the 1700s. It tells the reader about a smell or a place.

Examples

• Dad wears a bit of cologne on special days. tree →
• The cologne smelled of lemons and wood. tree →
• Too much cologne can make people sneeze. tree →
• Cologne Cathedral has two enormous spires. tree →
• We took a boat trip on the Rhine at Cologne. tree →
• Eau de cologne was first made in Cologne. tree →
• She gave a shriek of alarm and fainted away, and they had to pour two barrels of eau-de-cologne over her before she recovered. tree →

Note

Say «kuh-LOHN». As a perfume it is often uncountable (some cologne); as a city it is a name with a capital C. In German the city is «Köln». Spraying cologne near eyes or flames is unsafe.