Scouts

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /skaʊts/

Definitions

1. People who seek out new opportunities or individuals for a cause
2. Teams that venture into unknown regions to collect data or resources
3. Persons who go ahead to gather intelligence or find new prospects ; organized parties moving into new territories to obtain knowledge or supplies

Etymology: The "scout" who watches for the enemy is a word that came into English by way of listening. It descends from Latin "auscultare," "to listen," which passed through Old French "escouter" and produced a verbal noun "escoute," meaning the action of listening. Middle English borrowed it as "scout," and the sense shifted from hearing to observing: a person sent ahead to listen and watch for an enemy's movements. The noun had a rougher life before that. Middle English also had "scoute" meaning a wretch or rogue, a word probably of North Germanic origin, and it may be linked to "shout." Scholars have not settled whether the military sense and the rogue sense share a source, so the link remains uncertain. "Scouts" is simply the plural of the noun, and the verb form, "to scout," came later, formed from the noun: to go out and gather information about something.

Synonyms: explorers, reconnoiters, lookouts