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• scat
  scat

  verb (used without object)

  to go off hastily (often used in the imperative).
• scat-
  scat-

  variant of scato- before a vowel.

scat

¹ American  

[skat] / skæt /

verb (used without object)

Informal.

scatted, scatting

1. to go off hastily (often used in the imperative).

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scat ² American  

[skat] / skæt /

verb (used without object)

scatted, scatting

1. to sing by making full or partial use of the technique of scat singing, in which the singer substitutes improvised nonsense syllables for the words of a song.

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noun

1. scat singing.

scat ³ American  

[skat] / skæt /

noun

1. the excrement of a wild animal.

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scat ⁴ American  

[skat] / skæt /

noun

Slang.

1. heroin.

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scat ⁵ American  

[skat] / skæt /

Or scatt

noun

1. (in the Shetland and Orkney Islands) a crown tax, as for use of common lands.

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scat- ⁶ American  

1. variant of scato- before a vowel.

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scat ¹ British  

/ skæt /

noun

1. a type of jazz singing characterized by improvised vocal sounds instead of words

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verb

1. (intr) to sing jazz in this way

scat ² British  

/ skæt /

verb

1. informal (intr; usually imperative) to go away in haste

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scat ³ British  

/ skæt /

noun

1. any marine and freshwater percoid fish of the Asian family Scatophagidae, esp Scatophagus argus, which has a beautiful coloration

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scat ⁴ British  

/ skæt /

noun

1. an animal dropping

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Etymology

Origin of scat¹

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70; of uncertain origin

Origin of scat²

First recorded in 1925–30; of uncertain origin

Origin of scat³

First recorded in 1925–30; origin uncertain; compare British dialect (southwestern) scat “to scatter, fling down, bespatter”; Greek skat- (stem of skôr “dung”; see scato-) is an unlikely source, given popular character of the word and unmotivated derivation pattern

Origin of scat⁴

First recorded in 1945–50; of uncertain origin; compare earlier scat (slang) “whiskey”

Origin of scat⁵

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old Norse skattr “tax, treasure”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scat scatted scatting

Instead he looks for scat and footprints, which were harder to spot in the winter because of the frozen ground.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

While speaking with The Times in his front yard on Wednesday, Johnson noticed a fresh pile of bear scat in the lawn next door.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025

Newly christened, she became known for scat singing, a vocal style that originated with ragtime - which enabled her to improvise melodies using her voice as an instrument.

From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2025

For music, the show has an original score by the veteran trombonist Craig Harris, played by a jazz band that includes three vocalists who do sometimes scat.

From New York Times ● Jun. 17, 2024

“What’s that? Who’s there? You scat now and leave us be. Who’s there?”

From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe

She sang open-throated declarations, recited broken poetic verses, scatted with the authority of a jazz singer, moaned with bluesy intent, and occasionally let loose an unbridled shriek or giggle.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 4, 2026

Hancock sang identifiable words during “Come Running to Me,” but they were mutated by a vocoder, and most of the evening’s other vocals were scatted and altered.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2017

One scatted like a jazz singer, another embodied hip-hop, another the smooth and swiveling hip movements of a salsa.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2016

The beautiful public baths, just off Twenty-third Street on Asser Levy Place, across from Peter Cooper Village, are like a pun on the defeat of the rebel forces that scatted here, headed north.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 25, 2015

Coming out of the river bottoms, I scatted up a long hogback ridge, and broke out on top in the flats.

From "Where the Red Fern Grows" by Wilson Rawls

He plays it in a way that’s equal parts grunting and scatting and which, as Kirk biographer John Kruth has noted, was essentially adopted wholesale by rock star Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 1, 2026

The first rule of ZAZ-style comedy is that you can’t ever appear like you’re in on the joke, which Anderson edges close to once when she breaks into a scatting jazz number.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2025

A guest appearance by the actor and clown Bill Irwin brought out the vaudevillian side of the show with scatting wordplay that involved layering syllables and some hat choreography, too.

From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2021

Scooby-Doo’s name came from Silverman, who had heard Frank Sinatra scatting “doo-be-doo-be-doo” on a recording of “Strangers in the Night,” and whose own name was used for Fred, the group’s ascot-wearing leader.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 13, 2020

But feeling hungry myself, I reasoned that it would be pointless to waste whatever little energy I had left in scatting them away, for they would soon return.

From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane