Definition of "scout"

scout¹

/skaʊt/

noun
plural scouts
1. A person sent out to gain and bring in tidings; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.
2. An act of scouting or reconnoitering.
  Quotations
  while the rat is on the scout
  1782, William Cowper, “The Cricket”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […]
3. A member of any number of youth organizations belonging to the international scout movement, such as the Boy Scouts of America or Girl Scouts of the United States.
4. A person who assesses and/or recruits others; especially, one who identifies promising talent on behalf of a sports team.
  Quotations
  We have met twice this year and, during our first interview, Mata spoke evocatively when remembering how, having joined Real Oviedo aged 10 in 1998, he was given a previously unimaginable opportunity. Mata sat in a car park in 2003, when he was 14, and watched his father talking to a Real Madrid scout.
  2018 January 1, Donald McRae, “The Guardian footballer of the year 2017: Juan Mata”, in the Guardian‎
5. A person employed to monitor rivals' activities in the petroleum industry.
6. (Oxford University, modern) A housekeeper or domestic cleaner, generally female, employed by one of the constituent colleges of Oxford University to clean rooms; generally equivalent to a modern bedder at Cambridge University.
7. (Oxford University, Harvard University, Yale University, historical) A domestic servant, generally male, who would attend (usually several) students in a variety of ways, including cleaning; generally equivalent to a gyp at Cambridge University or a skip at Trinity College, Dublin.
  Quotations
  He has also been good enough to recommend to me many tradesmen who are ready to supply these articles in any quantities; each of whom has been here already a dozen times, cap in hand, and vowing that it is quite immaterial when I pay—which is very kind of them; but, with the highest respect for friend Perkins (my scout) and his obliging friends, I shall make some enquiries before "letting in" with any of them.
  1859–1861, [Thomas Hughes], chapter I, in Tom Brown at Oxford: […], (please specify |part=1 or 2), Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, published 1861
8. (UK, cricket) A fielder in a game for practice.
9. (historical, UK, up until 1920s) A fighter aircraft.
10. (radiography) A preliminary image that allows the technician to make adjustments before the actual diagnostic images.
  Quotations
  A scout topogram is initially performed during continuous table motion, generating an anatomic overview image similar to a conventional radiograph at the locked projection.
  2012, Ella A. Kazerooni, Baskaran Sundaram, Imaging of Lung Cancer, page 937
  It consisted of injecting an iodinated contrast agent while a breast was compressed in one projection after a scout film, taking several sequential films, and subtracting them from the scout film.
  2016, John L. Cameron, Andrew M. Cameron, Current Surgical Therapy, page 721
  Because of this FOV limitation, several institutions use a weight cutoff or a scout radiograph lateral diameter cutoff, though the exact cutoff threshold varies from institution to institution.
  2018, Savvas Nicolaou, Mohammed F. Mohammed, Multi-Energy CT: The New Frontier in Imaging, page 643
11. (informal) Term of address for a man or boy.
  Quotations
  "Listen, old scout," Mr. Osborn said solemnly, "you think New York is heartless, but that's not what it is."
  1983, Robley Wilson, Dancing for Men, page 124
verb
third-person singular simple present scouts, present participle scouting, simple past and past participle scouted
1. (transitive, intransitive) To explore a wide terrain, as if on a search.
  Quotations
  An hundred horeſmen of my companieScowting abroad vpon theſe champion plaines,Haue view’d the army of the Scythians,Which make report it far exceeds the Kings.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
2. (transitive) To observe, watch, or look for, as a scout; to follow for the purpose of observation, as a scout.
  Quotations
  Take more men, and scout him round.
  c. 1613 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Bonduca”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, Act V, scene ii

scout²

/skaʊt/

verb
third-person singular simple present scouts, present participle scouting, simple past and past participle scouted
1. (transitive) To reject with contempt.
  Quotations
  Flout 'em and scout 'em; and scout 'em and flout 'em: / Thought is free.
  1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
  I don't think I had any definite idea where Dora came from, or in what degree she was related to a higher order of beings; but I am quite sure I should have scouted the notion of her being simply human, like any other young lady, with indignation and contempt.
  1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850
2. (intransitive) To scoff.
  Quotations
  So ignorant are most landsmen of some of the plainest and most palpable wonders of the world, that without some hints touching the plain facts, historical and otherwise, of the fishery, they might scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 45, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley

scout³

/skaʊt/

noun
plural scouts
1. (dated) A swift sailing boat.
  Quotations
  So we took a scout, very much pleased with the manner and conversation of the passengers.
  1660, Samuel Pepys, diary entry 18th May 1660

scout⁴

/skaʊt/

verb
third-person singular simple present scouts, present participle scouting, simple past and past participle scouted
1. (Scotland) To pour forth a liquid forcibly, especially excrement.
noun
plural scouts
1. The guillemot.

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