Scot
name, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A person born in or native to Scotland.
- 2 A local tax, paid originally to the lord or ruler and later to a sheriff. UK, historical
- 3 A fury; a fit of temper. obsolete, slang
"The black fellows were in a very savage mood. […] Mr. Lawson, having heard that the up-creek blacks were "in a scot," and fearing that the youngsters might fall into their hands, had then started with his little party in pursuit."
- 4 a native or inhabitant of Scotland wordnet
- 1 A surname
- 2 A male given name transferred from the surname, of rare usage, variant of Scott.
Example
More examples"It is true that there are some people even so utterly without imagination that they cannot take a joke; such as that grave man of Scotland who was at last plainly told by a funny friend quite out of patience, “Why, you wouldn’t take a joke if it were fired at you out of a cannon!” “Sir,” replied the Scot, with sound reasoning and grave thought, “Sir, you are absurd. You cannot fire a joke out of a cannon!”"
Etymology
From Old English Scottas (“people from Ireland, Irishmen”), from Late Latin Scotti (see Scōtī for more). See Scoti.
From Middle English scot, scott, from Old English scot, scott, sċeot, ġescot (“contribution; payment; tax; fine”), from Old Norse skot, from Proto-Germanic *skutą (“that which is thrown or cast; projectile; missile”), related to English shoot. Later influenced by Old French escot (Modern écot), itself of Germanic origin. Doublet of shot.
Related phrases
More for "scot"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.