scout

noun

1. A person sent out to gather and bring back information; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.
2. An act of scouting or reconnoitering.

   “while the rat is on the scout”

   “May 6, 1883 […] This camp, the finest on this scout, has not so much running water as some of the others; […] May 7, 1883 […] Colonel Aguerre was going today or tomorrow with four hundred regular troops for a scout in the Sierra Madre […]”

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.

   “At the crack of dawn on Wednesday four different groups of scouts will climb the highest peaks in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales to light flames and officially mark the start of the Paralympic torch relay.”

4. A person who assesses or recruits others; especially, one who identifies promising talent on behalf of a sports team.

   “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.”

5. A person employed to monitor rivals' activities in the petroleum industry.
6. (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. (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.

   “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.”

8. (UK)A fielder in a game for practice.
9. (UK, historical)A fighter aircraft.
10. A preliminary image that allows the technician to make adjustments before the actual diagnostic images.

    “A scout topogram is initially performed during continuous table motion, generating an anatomic overview image similar to a conventional radiograph at the locked projection.”

    “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.”

    “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.”

11. (informal)A term of address for a man or boy.

    “"Listen, old scout," Mr. Osborn said solemnly, "you think New York is heartless, but that's not what it is."”

12. (dated)A swift sailing boat.

    “So we took a scout, very much pleased with the manner and conversation of the passengers.”

13. The guillemot.
14. A member of any of various scouting organizations.
15. A member of one of several army units, such as the Selous Scouts or the Arunachal Scouts.

verb

1. (intransitive, transitive)To explore a wide terrain, as if on a search.

   “An hundred horeſmen of my companie Scowting abroad vpon theſe champion plaines, Haue view’d the army of the Scythians, Which make report it far exceeds the Kings.”

2. (transitive)To observe, watch, or look for, as a scout; to follow for the purpose of observation, as a scout.

   “Take more men, and scout him round.”

3. (transitive)To reject with contempt.

   “to scout an idea or an apology”

   “Flout 'em and scout 'em; and scout 'em and flout 'em: / Thought is free.”

   “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.”

4. (transitive)To reject the ideas or beliefs of (a person).

   “Two months ago I should have scouted as mad or drunk the man who had dared tell me the like.”

5. (intransitive)To scoff.

   “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.”

6. (Scotland)To pour forth a liquid forcibly, especially excrement; to cause a liquid to gush.

name

1. A nickname, used for both genders.