scat

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /skæt/
  • Rhymes: -æt

Etymology 1

From Middle English scet, schat, from Old English sceatt (“property, goods, owndom, wealth, treasure; payment, price, gift, bribe, tax, tribute, money, goods, reward, rent, a tithe; a piece of money, a coin; denarius, twentieth part of a shilling”) and Old Norse skattr (“wealth, treaure, tax, tribute, coin”); both from Proto-Germanic *skattaz (“cattle, kine, wealth, owndom, goods, hoard, treasure, geld, money”), from Proto-Indo-European *skatn-, *skat- (“to jump, skip, splash out”). Cognate with Scots scat (“tax, levy, charge, payment, bribe”), West Frisian skat (“treasure, darling”), Dutch schat (“treasure, hoard, darling, sweetheart”), German Schatz (“treasure, hoard, wealth, store, darling, sweetheart”), Swedish skatt (“treasure, tax, duty”), Icelandic skattur (“tax, tribute”), Latin scateō (“gush, team, bubble forth, abound”).

Alternative forms

Noun

scat (plural scats)

  1. A tax; tribute.
  2. (Britain dialectal) A land-tax paid in the Shetland Islands.
Translations

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain. Perhaps (speculation) from English dialectal scat (“to scatter, fling, bespatter”), or an alteration of shit (past tense shat; compare Old English scāt), also used for "drugs, heroin". Given the popular character of the word and unmotivated derivation pattern, it is unlikely to be derived from Ancient Greek σκῶρ (skôr, “excrement”).[1]

Alternative forms

  • skatt (brisk shower of rain)

Noun

scat (uncountable)

  1. (biology) Animal excrement; droppings, dung.
    • 2014 September 22, James Gorman, “For polar bears, a climate change twist [print version: For hungry polar bears, a climate change twist, International New York Times, 24 September 2014, p 12]”, in The New York Times‎:
      Dr. Gormezano […] specializes in noninvasive methods for monitoring the behavior of predators. In terms of diet, scientists can observe what goes in, or what goes out. With an animal like a polar bear, the second approach is more practical. They turned to polar bear feces, or scat, as it is commonly called. […] She and Quinoa [a dog] worked with Dr. Rockwell to collect and study samples of polar bear scat for several years and found that the bears were eating lots of geese. They were also eating caribou and other animals, as well as berries – anything in reach.
    • 2018 Brent Butt as Brent Herbert Leroy, "Sasquatch Your Language", Corner Gas Animated
      Wherever legitimate tracks are found there's always some fresh scat, y'know, poo, flop, dumplings.
    • (In this biological meaning, taken by learned route from Greek σκῶρ ‎(genitive σκᾰτός) ‎(“excrement, dung”))
  2. (slang) Heroin.
  3. (slang, obsolete) Whiskey.
  4. (slang) Coprophilia.
    • 1988, “Pete”, quoted in Seymour Kleinberg, Alienated Affections: Being Gay in America, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 183:
      Enema queens, like scat queens, are really the scum of the earth.
    • 1998, Dennis Cooper, Guide, Grove Press, →ISBN, page 170:
      “ […] I hear he’s into S&M and scat and all kinds of kinky shit. […] ”
    • 2004, Phineas Mollod and Jason Tesauro, The Modern Lover: A Playbook for Suitors, Spouses & Ringless Carousers, Ten Speed Press, →ISBN, page 72:
      In short, when venturing into the realm of extreme fetish, ensure you have an extreme understanding of a partner’s boundaries before laying down a plastic tarp for scat play.
  5. (Britain, dialect) A brisk shower of rain, driven by the wind.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)
    When Halldown has a hat, Let Kenton beware of a Skatt. — Risdon.
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 3

Probably imitative.

Noun

scat (plural scats)

  1. (music, jazz) Scat singing.

Verb

scat (third-person singular simple present scats, present participle scatting, simple past and past participle scatted)

  1. (music, jazz) To sing an improvised melodic solo using nonsense syllables, often onomatopoeic or imitative of musical instruments.

Etymology 4

Perhaps from the interjection scat!, itself an interjectional form of scoot! or scout!, from the root of shoot. Alternatively, from the expression quicker than s'cat (“in a great hurry”), perhaps representing a hiss followed by the word cat. Compare Swedish schas! (“shoo!, begone!”).

Verb

scat (third-person singular simple present scats, present participle scatting, simple past and past participle scatted)

  1. (colloquial) To leave quickly (often used in the imperative).
    Here comes the principal; we'd better scat.
  2. (colloquial) An imperative demand, often understood by speaker and listener as impertinent.
    Scat! Go on! Get out of here!
Translations

Etymology 5

From Translingual Scathophagidae

Noun

scat (plural scats)

  1. Any fish in the family Scathophagidae

References

    1. ↑ 2012, Dictionary.com Unabridged, Based on the Random House Dictionary, "scat"

Anagrams

Old Saxon

Noun

scat m

  1. Alternative spelling of skat
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