mascot

[mas-kot, -kuh t]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mascot ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an animal, person, or thing adopted by a group as its representative symbol and supposed to bring good luck: The U.S. Navy mascot is a goat.

Origin of mascot

1880–85; < French mascotte < Provençal mascoto talisman, charm, derivative of masco sorceress. See mask

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mascot

juju, phylactery, trinket, amulet, fetish, mascot, talisman, image, superstition, charm, idol, periapt

Examples from the Web for mascot

Contemporary Examples of mascot

The support of a mascot has confused Christianity and sports.
Sherman Alexie on His New Film, the Redskins, and Why It's OK to Laugh at His Work
William O’Connor
August 22, 2014
Joe Camel: For about a decade beginning in 1987, Camel started to market its products using a mascot called “Old Joe.”
Big Tobacco’s Biggest Lies
Gideon Resnick
January 20, 2014
What if a Serb mortar team carried a little ginger cat as their mascot?
5 War Books You May Not Have in Your Library
Jake Tapper
November 11, 2013
The fact is, the mascot may be the quiet kid sitting next to you in class with his head down.
Hulu is the New Netflix: Why You Should Watch ‘Behind the Mask’
Anna Brand
October 30, 2013
I ended up starting a sub shop called the Cheba Hut “Toasted” Subs, and the camper van is our mascot.
Dude, Where’s My Bus? Fast Times in the Iconic VW Van
Scott Jennings
October 13, 2013

Historical Examples of mascot

"Hello yourself and see how you like it," the mascot of the Ravens called down.
Pee-wee Harris
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
Ain't he our mascot, and didn't they strike on good after we'd struck him?
"Captains Courageous"
Rudyard Kipling
He called for his mascot, and the bear at once appeared and he mounted its back.
A Treasury of Eskimo Tales
Clara Kern Bayliss
"Lu-Lu" and "Mascot" were neck and neck, getting in splendid work.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901
Lucy Maud Montgomery
It didn't matter a pin to her whether "Lu-Lu" or "Mascot" won.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901
Lucy Maud Montgomery

British Dictionary definitions for mascot

mascot

noun

a person, animal, or thing considered to bring good luck

Word Origin for mascot

C19: from French mascotte, from Provençal mascotto charm, from masco witch

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mascot

"talisman, charm," 1881, from provincial French mascotte "sorcerer's charm, 'faerie friend,' good luck piece" (19c.), of uncertain origin, perhaps from or related to Provençal mascoto "sorcery, fetish" (cf. Narbonnese manuscript, 1233, mascotto "procuress, enchantment, bewitchment in gambling"), from masco "witch," from Old Provençal masca, itself of unknown origin, perhaps from Medieval Latin masca "mask, specter, nightmare" (see mask (n.)). Popularized by French composer Edmond Audran's 1880 comic operetta "La Mascotte," about a household "fairy" who gives luck to an Italian peasant, performed in a toned-down translation in England from fall 1881.