Skip to main content
boy scout

boy scout

25 2.2
A young person in a group who learns camping, first aid and how to help others
  • noun
  • /bɔɪ skaʊt/
: boy scout
  • During the camping trip, the boy scouts learned how to build a fire safely.

A squatting Boy Scout in a helicopter vomiting a rock it.

Examples

Synonyms

Scout
vsboy scout
413 2.1

A young person in a youth group who learns outdoor skills, teamwork, and leadership

focuses on citizenship personal responsibility and being helpful and prepared rather than leadership

Antonyms

47 1.8

A girl who belongs to a group that teaches skills and helps other people

How Helpful

lifesaver
30 3.0
boy scout
25 2.2
volunteer
507 2.2
helper
91 1.0

Surface Forms

boy scout singular
boy scouts plural

Morphology

boy + Scout

The constituents 'boy' and 'Scout' transparently yield the literal sense of a young member of the Scouts, so learners can guess a relation to youthfulness and the Scout role. However, the evaluative meaning 'naive/overly innocent' is an extended, culturally grounded interpretation (Scouts as morally earnest/innocent) and therefore requires pragmatic or cultural knowledge beyond simple composition, making the expression only partially predictable.

Etymology

Boy scout originally named a young member of the scouting movement: a boy trained as a scout to learn camping, first aid and to be ready to help others. So the term means someone who is 'helpful and prepared'.