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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

scout.

A person sent out to gather and bring back information; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈskaʊ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈskɐʊ̯t//ˈskʌʊ̯t//ˈskəʊ̯t/
  1. A person sent out to gather and bring back information; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.

  2. An act of scouting or reconnoitering.

  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 or recruits others; especially, one who identifies promising talent on behalf of a sports team.

  5. A person employed to monitor rivals' activities in the petroleum industry.

  6. A housekeeper or domestic cleaner, generally female, employed by one of the constituent colleges of Oxford University to clean rooms; generally equivalent to a modern bedder at Cambridge University.

    modern
  7. A domestic servant, generally male, who would attend (usually several) students in a variety of ways, including cleaning; generally equivalent to a gyp at Cambridge University or a skip at Trinity College, Dublin.

    historical
  8. A fielder in a game for practice.

    UK
  9. A fighter aircraft.

    UK · historical
  10. A preliminary image that allows the technician to make adjustments before the actual diagnostic images.

  11. A term of address for a man or boy.

    informal
Where this word comes from

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

verb/ˈskaʊ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈskɐʊ̯t//ˈskʌʊ̯t//ˈskəʊ̯t/
  1. To explore a wide terrain, as if on a search.

    intransitive · transitive
  2. To observe, watch, or look for, as a scout; to follow for the purpose of observation, as a scout.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

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

verb/ˈskaʊ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈskɐʊ̯t//ˈskʌʊ̯t//ˈskəʊ̯t/
  1. To reject with contempt.

    transitive
    to scout an idea or an apology
  2. To reject the ideas or beliefs of (a person).

    transitive
  3. To scoff.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

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

noun/ˈskaʊ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈskɐʊ̯t//ˈskʌʊ̯t//ˈskəʊ̯t/
  1. A swift sailing boat.

    dated
Where this word comes from

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”). Compare shout (“flat-bottomed boat”), schuit.

verb/ˈskaʊ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈskɐʊ̯t//ˈskʌʊ̯t//ˈskəʊ̯t/
  1. To pour forth a liquid forcibly, especially excrement; to cause a liquid to gush.

    Scotland
Where this word comes from

Uncertain. The Dictionary of the Scots Language (DSL) groups the verb scout, scoot (/skut/, regionally /skʌut/) "cause liquid to gush" with a noun scout "sudden gush or flow of water, as from a spout or over rock", and considers the pair to be of Scandinavian origin, perhaps related to Old Norse skjóta (“shoot”); however, scout (or scut) was formerly also found as a word for "flow of water over rocks, waterfall; ridge or overhang of rocks" in various northern and central English dialects, and there suggested to have a different Norse origin, Old Norse skúti (“cave formed by jutting rocks”); it is possible that noun and the verb are unrelated. It is also unclear whether the noun meaning "guillemot" is related (the DSL gives it as a separate word, with separate spellings scout, scowt, skout, pronounced /skut/, of uncertain origin), but it might derive from their habit of pouring forth excrement.

noun/ˈskaʊ̯t/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ˈskɐʊ̯t//ˈskʌʊ̯t//ˈskəʊ̯t/
  1. The guillemot.

Where this word comes from

Uncertain. The Dictionary of the Scots Language (DSL) groups the verb scout, scoot (/skut/, regionally /skʌut/) "cause liquid to gush" with a noun scout "sudden gush or flow of water, as from a spout or over rock", and considers the pair to be of Scandinavian origin, perhaps related to Old Norse skjóta (“shoot”); however, scout (or scut) was formerly also found as a word for "flow of water over rocks, waterfall; ridge or overhang of rocks" in various northern and central English dialects, and there suggested to have a different Norse origin, Old Norse skúti (“cave formed by jutting rocks”); it is possible that noun and the verb are unrelated. It is also unclear whether the noun meaning "guillemot" is related (the DSL gives it as a separate word, with separate spellings scout, scowt, skout, pronounced /skut/, of uncertain origin), but it might derive from their habit of pouring forth excrement.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.