scout

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Archived revision by DCDuring (talk | contribs) as of 14:56, 7 January 2020.
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: Scout

English

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /skaʊt/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Canada" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): [skʌʊt]
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Australia" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E.
    Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊt
  • Homophone: Scout

Etymology 1

From Middle English scout, scoult, from Old French escoute (“action of listening”), verbal noun from escouter (“to listen, heed”), from Latin auscultare (“to listen”). The verb comes from the noun.[1]

Noun

scout (plural scouts)

  1. A person sent out to gain and bring in tidings; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.
  2. An act of scouting or reconnoitering.
    • (Can we date this quote by Cowper and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      while the rat is on the scout
  3. A member of any number of youth organizations belonging to the international scout movement, such as the Boy Scouts of America or Girl Scouts of the United States.
  4. A person who assesses and/or recruits others; especially, one who identifies promising talent on behalf of a sports team.
    • 2018 January 1, Donald McRae, “The Guardian footballer of the year 2017: Juan Mata”, in the Guardian‎[1]:
      We have met twice this year and, during our first interview, Mata spoke evocatively when remembering how, having joined Real Oviedo aged 10 in 1998, he was given a previously unimaginable opportunity. Mata sat in a car park in 2003, when he was 14, and watched his father talking to a Real Madrid scout.
  5. (British) A college servant (in Oxford, England or Yale or Harvard), originally implying a male servant, attending to (usually several) students or undergraduates in a variety of ways that includes cleaning; corresponding to the duties of a gyp or possibly bedder at Cambridge University; and at Dublin, a skip.
  6. (British, cricket) A fielder in a game for practice.
  7. (historical, British, up until 1920s) A fighter aircraft.
  8. (informal) Term of address for a man or boy.
    • 1983, Robley Wilson, Dancing for men (page 124)
      "Listen, old scout," Mr. Osborn said solemnly, "you think New York is heartless, but that's not what it is."
Derived terms
Terms derived from scout (noun)
Translations

Verb

scout (third-person singular simple present scouts, present participle scouting, simple past and past participle scouted)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To explore a wide terrain, as if on a search; to reconnoiter.
  2. (transitive) To observe, watch, or look for, as a scout; to follow for the purpose of observation, as a scout.
    • (Can we date this quote by Beaumont and Fletcher and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Take more men, and scout him round.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Of North Germanic origin. Compare Old Norse skúta, skúti (“taunt”), Middle English scoute (“a wretch, rascal, rogue”); thus may be related to English shout.

Verb

scout (third-person singular simple present scouts, present participle scouting, simple past and past participle scouted)

  1. (transitive) To reject with contempt.
    to scout an idea or an apology
    • 1610, Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 3 scene 2
      Flout 'em and scout 'em; and scout 'em and flout 'em: / Thought is free.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Charles Dickens, David Copperfield
      I don't think I had any definite idea where Dora came from, or in what degree she was related to a higher order of beings; but I am quite sure I should have scouted the notion of her being simply human, like any other young lady, with indignation and contempt.
  2. (intransitive) To scoff.
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, ch. 45
      So ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world, that without some hints touching the plain facts, historical and otherwise, of the fishery, they might scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory.
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English scoute, skoute (also schoute, shoute, schuyt), from Middle Low German schûte or Middle Dutch schute; or possibly from Old Norse skúta (“a small craft or cutter”).

Noun

scout (plural scouts)

  1. (dated) A swift sailing boat.
    • (Can we date this quote by Samuel Pepys and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      So we took a scout, very much pleased with the manner and conversation of the passengers.

Etymology 4

From Middle English scouten (“to jut out, project”), from Old Norse skúta (“to jut out”), cognate with Icelandic skúta (“to jut out”).

Noun

scout (plural scouts)

  1. (archaic) A projecting rock.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)

Etymology 5

Verb

scout (third-person singular simple present scouts, present participle scouting, simple past and past participle scouted)

  1. (Scotland) To pour forth a liquid forcibly, especially excrement.

Noun

scout (plural scouts)

  1. The guillemot.

See also

References

  1. ^ “scout”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English scout.

Pronunciation

Noun

scout m (plural scouts)

  1. A scout, a boy scout or girl scout.
    Synonym: padvinder
  2. (sports) A talent scout.

French

Noun

scout m (plural scouts)

  1. scout, boy scout

Italian

Etymology

Clipping of boyscout.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /skau̯t/, [s̪käu̯t̪]

Noun

scout m or f (uncountable)

  1. scout (a member of the international scout movement)
    Synonym: esploratore

Spanish

Noun

scout m (plural scouts)

  1. scout

Swedish

Noun

scout c

  1. scout; a member of the international scout movement.

Declension

Declension of scout 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative scout scouten scouter scouterna
Genitive scouts scoutens scouters scouternas
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=scout&oldid=58310421"