An Americanism dating back to 1865–70; of uncertain origin
First recorded in 1925–30; of uncertain origin
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
First recorded in 1945–50; of uncertain origin; compare earlier scat (slang) “whiskey”
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Old Norse skattr “tax, treasure”
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“But she’s not a scat singer. She improvises more in the technique of the Baroque period, expanding and contracting phrases or adding trills that deviate from the melody.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 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
“I don’t know what happened,” Manley said, describing the improv session, “but I’m telling you, I blacked out and bee-bopped and scatted all over that room, like George Costanza would say.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
On “Bebop,” by his mentor Dizzy Gillespie, El’Zabar scatted the melody along with the horns.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 17, 2022
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
One distinguishing feature of hunger I already knew was persistence: I, too, whenever I felt hungry, always returned to the source of food whenever I was scatted.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Here, Fay Victor, a uniquely daring and creative singer, adorns her vocal with all manner of creaking, wailing, moaning and scatting, yet she maintains Bey’s feeling of directing a congregation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
“It doesn’t really make sense. You just have to kind of follow the sound. I still remember the reception that I got from it. Angela Jackson said, ‘You’re scatting on the page.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 14, 2025
Turner’s playful scatting seems to animate Michele Byrd-McPhee’s similarly scatting feet.
From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2022
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
