noun
A person sent out to gather and bring back information; especially, one employed in war to gain information about the enemy and ground.
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 […]
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.
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.
A person employed to monitor rivals' activities in the petroleum industry.
verb
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.
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.
verb
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.
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.
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.