scot
noun
a payment or charge.
scot
1 American
[skot]
/ skɒt /
noun
History/Historical.
-
a payment or charge.
-
one's share of a payment or charge.
-
an assessment or tax.
Scot
2
American
[skot]
/ skɒt /
noun
-
Scots
plural
-
a native or inhabitant of Scotland.
-
one of an ancient Gaelic people who came from northern Ireland about the 6th century a.d. and settled in the northwestern part of Great Britain, and after whom Scotland was named.
Scot.
4
American
abbreviation
-
Scotch.
-
Scotland.
-
Scottish.
Scot.
1
British
abbreviation
-
Scotch (whisky)
-
Scotland
-
Scottish
Scot
2
British
/ skɒt /
noun
-
a native or inhabitant of Scotland
-
a member of a tribe of Celtic raiders from the north of Ireland who carried out periodic attacks against the British mainland coast from the 3rd century ad , eventually settling in N Britain during the 5th and 6th centuries
scot
Idioms
Commonly Confused
See Scotch.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of scot1
1200–50; Middle English < Old Norse skattr tax, treasure; cognate with Old English gescot payment
Origin of Scot2
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English Scottas (plural), from Late Latin Scottī “the Irish”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
ULA’s design means large losses may be heavily taxed while big gains go scot free.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 5, 2025
"Whether he knew about it or not, Eric was married and quite a lot older than my mum. Then he went off to Australia. I think he got off scot free," she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2020
On this basis, prosecutors declined to try the case and the McMichaels appeared to go scot free.
From Slate ● May 19, 2020
So either the wrongdoers got off scot free, or the SEC shouldn’t have brought the case it did against the company.
From BusinessWeek ● Feb. 10, 2011
And the big yeller dog that had caused all the trouble got off scot free.
From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson
Enter James Law, a Scot who had been recruited in 1868 by Ezra Cornell, the co-founder of the eponymous university, to join the faculty as a professor of veterinary medicine.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026
“The entirety of our focus is to get to this transaction and get through it,” LIV chief executive Scot O’Neil said last week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
The Scot posted a final round 67 to come from three shots back and beat England's overnight leader Matthew Jordan by a couple of strokes.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
But as Scott Jamieson tried to come to terms with ending his drought at the Nexo Championship in Aberdeenshire, the 42-year-old Scot found himself speaking to President Donald Trump on a video call.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
It wasn’t until 1828 that an enterprising Scot named James Neilson had the simple but effective idea of injecting heated air rather than cold air into an iron furnace by means of a bellows.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
"I'm married to a Bengali Scot. My son is going out with a Kurdish refugee."
From BBC ● May 31, 2016
Chardy converts with a superb point, pulling Murray all over the court before nailing a cross-court forehand past the Scot. 1-1 in the first, two breaks already.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 1, 2015
It comes, like Fr. cage, from Vulgar Lat. *cavea, and has a doublet kevie, whence Scot. cavie, a hen-coop.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley
Calderwood's Hist. of the Ch. of Scot. p.
From The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning by Hugh Binning
For the "rope" figure we may compare Scot. hempie, a minx, and obsolete Ital. cavestrolo, a diminutive from Lat. capistrum, halter, explained by Florio as "a wag, a haltersacke."
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley
Bruch got to know Scotland through the novels of Walter Scott, and its music through an anthology called “The Scots Musical Museum.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
"There's no magic line" dictating what defines a nation, he told AFP, but noted Alberta's case for nationhood appears harder to make than that of other groups, like Catalans, Scots and French-speaking Canadians in Quebec.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
The Scots led at half-time through Ryan Christie's close-range backheel, but were alarmingly open defensively and second-half goals from Danijel Sturm and Aljosa Matko turned the game on its head.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
In a study by professor Neil Kirk, most Scottish participants assumed AI-generated Scottish Standard English or Dundonian Scots voices were human.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
“Ah ken what t’ dooo,” drawled Jamie, the Pobble Who Has No Toes, dragging out his vowels to make them exaggeratedly Scots.
From "Code Name Verity" by Elizabeth Wein
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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.
