Meaning of "as of"

[capcap23]

All at once, a sickly-sweet odor as of incense mixed with decay made my stomach churn. Source
What does "as of" mean here? All the examples explaining "as of" that I have found are about time, as in "As of next month".

 

[emsr2d2]

Here, it means "like".

 

[teechar]

It means similar to (the smell of).

 

[Tdol]

PS Do notice that examples in that dictionary, like most nowadays, are taken automatically from a database known as a corpus. They are not selected by people as perfect examples.

 

[probus]

Here, it means "like".

I would add that it is very old-fashioned.

 

[capcap23]

Is it possible that it is an abbreviated form of "as something of ..."? like the examples in here.

1/ It came as something of a surprise.
2/ It came as of surprise.
Do they mean same thing?

 

[5jj]

No.
(2) is incorrect.

 

[teechar]

2/ It came as of surprise.

And in fairness to the Cambridge Dictionary, you didn't get that sentence from them. Be mindful how you quote text, capcap23.

 

[kadioguy]

All at once, a sickly-sweet odor as of incense mixed with decay made my stomach churn.
What does "as of" mean here?

I see it as ... a sickly-sweet odor as (=like) of incense mixed with decay ....

To me, the pattern is like this:

It is of importance. = It is important.