a member of an organization of boys BoyScouts, founded in England in 1908 by Lieutenant General Sir Robert S. S. Baden-Powell, that seeks to develop certain skills in its members, as well as character, self-reliance, and usefulness to others.
(lowercase) a member of any similar society elsewhere.
(lowercase) a person whose deeds, obliging personality, idealism, etc., exceed normal expectations.
See Scout
informal an apparently virtuous and innocent person
Use of boy scout to mean “someone who is obliging and idealistic” usually implies that the person is naive or unworldly.
First recorded in 1905–10
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He gives off Boy Scout vibes with his earnest tones and short haircut.
From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2026
I was both watching and reading about all these groups imploding; it was companies, friend groups, church groups, Boy Scout troops.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Trinkets from his Boy Scout days, winter sweaters for the dogs, and $60 worth of food were among his missing belongings.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2025
At first, Charlie Hey, 12, didn’t think much of it when his Boy Scout troop passed an elderly man standing at the edge of a trail deep in the Emigrant Wilderness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2025
But he’d been raised by such nerdy, square parents, who’d dragged him off to Sunday school and Boy Scout meetings, and had talked so seriously about how important it was to be a good person.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
In August, a boy scout troop hiking in the Emigrant Wilderness north of Yosemite National Park came upon a 78-year old man who had spent a night without food, water or shelter in the mountains.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2025
His passion for journalism was first piqued in high school, when, as a boy scout on a flood relief mission in Fairbanks, he bonded with an Anchorage Daily News reporter.
From New York Times ● Jan. 12, 2024
The former boy scout said many people are wondering how they would’ve fared in the situation, and what they could do to prepare for something similar.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 29, 2022
But for Buzz, a lantern-jawed boy scout with a penchant for dramatically narrating his mission logs, moving on with his life would be tantamount to admitting failure — something he refuses to do.
From The Verge ● Jun. 18, 2022
“I go to sleep by a campfire that looked like it was built by a boy scout, and I awaken in the middle of the eighteenth century.”
From "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
