boy scout
2
2.2
- 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.
- A squatting Boy Scout in a helicopter vomiting a rock it.
Examples
-
I'm the boy scout.
-
There are boy scouts delivering flyers along the street, running around the corners of the houses.
Fiction book (1994) -
It's still a boy scout camp, kids and everything.
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We're just like a couple of boy scouts out here.
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You know how fast those boy scouts move?
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Good thing I was a boy scout.
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There are boy scouts who know this for crying out loud.
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What are you boy scouts staring at?
Fiction book (1994) -
- A boy scout... with a merit badge in carving.
-
The boy scouts helped to clean up the park after the storm.
Synonyms
362
2.1
A young person in a youth group who learns outdoor skills, teamwork, and leadership
Antonyms
How Helpful
Surface Forms
Morphology
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'.