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• scout
  scout

  noun

  a soldier, warship, airplane, etc., employed in reconnoitering.
• Scout
  Scout

  noun

  (sometimes not capital) a boy or (in some countries) a girl who is a member of a worldwide movement (the Scout Association ) founded as the Boy Scouts in England in 1908 by Lord Baden-Powell with the aim of developing character and responsibility See also Air Scout Girl Scout Guide Sea Scout Venture Scout

scout

¹ American  

[skaut] / skaʊt /

noun

• scouts
  plural

1. a soldier, warship, airplane, etc., employed in reconnoitering.

2. a person sent out to obtain information.

3. Sports.

   1. a person who observes and reports on the techniques, players, etc., of opposing teams.

   2. a person sent out by a team to observe and recommend new talent for recruitment.

4. a talent scout, as in the entertainment field.

5. an act or instance of reconnoitering, inspecting, observing, etc.

6. Sometimes Scout a Boy Scout or Girl Scout.

7. Informal. a person.

   He's a good scout.

8. a man acting as servant to a student at Oxford University.

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verb (used without object)

1. to act as a scout; reconnoiter.

2. to make a search; hunt.

3. to work as a talent scout.

verb (used with object)

1. to examine, inspect, or observe for the purpose of obtaining information; reconnoiter.

   to scout the enemy's defenses.

2. to seek; search for (usually followed by out orup ).

   to scout up a date for Friday night.

3. to find by seeking, searching, or looking (usually followed by out orup ).

   Scout out a good book for me to read.

scout ² American  

[skaut] / skaʊt /

verb (used with object)

1. to treat with scorn; dismiss.

2. to make fun of; deride; mock.

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verb (used without object)

1. to scoff; jeer.

scout ¹ British  

/ skaʊt /

noun

1. a person, ship, or aircraft sent out to gain information

2. military a person or unit despatched to reconnoitre the position of the enemy

3. sport a person employed by a club to seek new players

4. the act or an instance of scouting

5. (esp at Oxford University) a college servant Compare gyp 3

6. obsolete (in Britain) a patrolman of a motoring organization

7. informal a fellow or companion

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verb

1. to examine or observe (anything) in order to obtain information

2. (tr; sometimes foll by out or up) to seek

3. (intr) to act as a scout for a sports club

4. (intr; foll by about or around) to go in search (for)

Scout ² British  

/ skaʊt /

noun

1. (sometimes not capital) a boy or (in some countries) a girl who is a member of a worldwide movement (the Scout Association ) founded as the Boy Scouts in England in 1908 by Lord Baden-Powell with the aim of developing character and responsibility See also Air Scout Girl Scout Guide Sea Scout Venture Scout

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scout ³ British  

/ skaʊt /

verb

1. archaic to reject (a person or thing) with contempt

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scout Idioms  

1. see good egg (scout).

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• scouter
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• scouts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of scout¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English verb scouten. skowten, from Old French escouter, escolter, ascolter ( French écouter “to listen”) from Late Latin ascultāre, Latin auscultāre “to listen, listen to”; Middle English noun scoute-, from Old French escoute, derivative of escouter; see origin at auscultation

Origin of scout²

First recorded in 1595–1605; perhaps from Old Norse skūta, skūti “abuse, taunting”; see also shout

Explanation

When you explore or investigate an area, you scout. If your cat is missing, you might send your friends out to scout around the neighborhood. When you scout, you're searching for information; the word comes from the Old French escouter, "to listen for," and its Latin source, auscultare, "to listen attentively." And when you're searching under porches and in trees for your missing cat — also listening for his meows — you're acting as a scout, someone tasked with looking out for or finding something.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

scout Scout scouts

Bob Fontaine Jr. was a scout for six MLB teams and drafted Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith, Tony Gwynn and Randy Johnson, in addition to Jim Abbott and many other Angels stars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026

“I think every scout, if they scout for any length of time, is going to have one player that just is special to you. Jimmy Abbott was that,” Fontaine told JapanBall in 2022.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

So he would cruise the local fields with Northeast scout Matt Hyde in search of gems yet to be unearthed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

The scout, who described elephant mothers mixing it in their mouths - "removing the leaves and chewing it until smooth, along with the roots of some other trees".

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

A scout from a neighboring school that will play Marshall in several weeks has his binoculars trained on the game.

From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger

Fiona Ma played sports, was a Girl Scout — “a top cookie seller,” she boasts on her campaign website — and graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

As the Fantasy Football Scout explains, since the game began, 52 players have reached 200 points in a season at least once.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Which makes the latest Girl Scout controversy unusually revealing.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

“We want you to become slightly more cautious because positive EPS estimate revision momentum has cooled somewhat,” Nick Raich of the Earnings Scout wrote in a recent research note.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026

Jackie told me she had seen my best friend, Alvina, at the movies with some girls from our Girl Scout troop.

From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor

An in-house real-estate team aggressively scouts and negotiates deals for prime locations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026

The initial recommendation came from scouts, and given Alvarez was not a player originally identified by his metrics, the data team had to take a closer look.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

There is also a 'utilisation chart' that records how often the player has been used over a three-year period, as well as a scouting grade that indicates how highly the traditional scouts rate the individual.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026

Players pray as they always have: for protection from injury, from the embarrassment of a missed tackle or muffed punt, to impress their homecoming date or to attract the attention of scouts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

That fall she was introduced to two music scouts from Scandinavia.

From "The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights" by Russell Freedman

Related Words

• examine
• explore
• inspect