scat

S1C3A1T1
/skæt/

noun

A tax; tribute.

CommonScrabble 6

Meanings

scat1

nounscat (plural scats)

plural scats · alternative scatt · alternative skatt

  1. ShetlandA land-tax paid in the Shetland Islands.

scat2

nounscat (countable and uncountable, plural scats)

plural scats · alternative skat · alternative skatt

  1. countableuncountablebiologyAnimal excrement; droppings, dung.

    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.

    1 more example

    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.

    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

    Synonyms: feces

  2. countableslanguncountableHeroin.

    Synonyms: shit

  3. countableobsoleteslanguncountableWhiskey.
  4. countableslanguncountablelifestyleCoprophilia, scatophilia.

    Enema queens, like scat queens, are really the scum of the earth.

    1988, “Pete”, quoted in Seymour Kleinberg, Alienated Affections: Being Gay in America, Macmillan, page 183
    2 more examples

    “[…] I hear he’s into S&M and scat and all kinds of kinky shit. […]”

    1998, Dennis Cooper, Guide, Grove Press, →ISBN, page 170

    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.

    2004, Phineas Mollod, Jason Tesauro, The Modern Lover: A Playbook for Suitors, Spouses & Ringless Carousers, Ten Speed Press, →ISBN, page 72

    Synonyms: storm

scat3

nounscat (plural scats)

plural scats

  1. uncommonA blow; a hit, an impact.

    ... the soft and pitying eyes seemed to shame him, "like a scat in the face," he said to himself. But who was he that he should care for any blow across the cheek now, if it was not hard enough to hurt?

    1901, Ethel Lilian Voynich, Jack Raymond, page 173
    1 more example

    ... a shot rang out, followed immediately by the "scat" of a bullet against the rock behind which he lay concealed. A tramp of heavy Galloway brogans was heard, and a half-hearted kicking about among the heather bushes, and at last[…]

    1895, Samuel Rutherford Crockett, Bog-myrtle and Peat: Tales Chiefly of Galloway Gathered from the Years 1889 to 1895, London, Bliss, Sands and Foster, page 294
  2. UKdialectalA brisk shower of rain, driven by the wind.

    "I am never away." The tail end of a scat of rain beat on their faces. From the hollow on their left, the wind came booming up.

    2019 December 9 [????], E. Phillips Oppenheim, Nobody's Man: A Thrilling Tale of Espionage and Betrayal, Good Press
    2 more examples

    Low black Clouds on it being ſoppoſed to prognoſticate Rain in the Places beneath it, it has been a ſtanding old Saw, When Haldon hath a Hat, Kenton beware a Skat.

    1759, Andrew Brice, The Grand Gazetteer, or Topographic Dictionary, page 677

    ... a scat of heavy rain on a squall of wind shut out the harbour for a time. Mrs. Tregenza waited until Joan had disappeared, then went back to her kitchen, closed the door, sat in Grey Michael's great chair by the hearth,[…]

    1897, Eden Phillpotts, Lying Prophets: A Novel, page 187

scat4

nounscat (plural scats)

plural scats

  1. jazzentertainmentScat singing.
verbscat (third-person singular simple present scats, present participle scatting, simple past and past participle scatted)

present singular third person scats · participle present scatting · participle past scatted · past scatted

  1. jazzentertainmentTo sing an improvised melodic solo using nonsense syllables, often onomatopoeic or imitative of musical instruments.

scat5

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

present singular third person scats · participle present scatting · participle past scatted · past scatted

  1. colloquialTo leave quickly.

    Here comes the principal; we'd better scat.

    4 more examples

    We have to scat! Oh-oh—I forgot to look at the clock!

    2013, Eldot, The Champions, page 245

    Her mother looked at me in fright and quickly scatted with her daughter back down the hall.

    2013, Cecilia Spiros, The Montoya Saga: Premonitions, page 57

    Ali tried talking to this short boy but he quickly scatted away from her.

    2015, Alice McCurdy, A Million Dollar Man Not a Dime From a Dozen, page 115

    One last word, then I have to scat.

    2019, William Walling, Memo to the Leader, page 85
interjection
  1. colloquialAn imperative demand to leave, often understood by speaker and listener as impertinent.

    Scat! Go on! Get out of here!

    3 more examples

    Scat! Shoo! Scat! Geet up! Geet on! Nobody's sick in this house! Nobody wants you here!

    1903, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Though Life Us Do Part, page 223

    “Scat! Shoo bird!” The bird merely stared, its dark eyes glinting.

    2009, Coleen D'Andrea, The Harbinger, page 30

    'Scat! Go on, scat!' she called, trying to shoo it away.

    2014, Marita Conlon-McKenna, The Hat Shop On The Corner, page 24

scat6

nounscat (plural scats)

plural scats

  1. Any fish in the family Scatophagidae.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAnimal excrement; droppings, dung.

Similar

nounHeroin.

Similar

nounCoprophilia, scatophilia.

Similar
Similar

More synonyms by meaning

nounsinging jazz; the singer substitutes nonsense syllables for the words of the song and tries to sound like a musical instrument

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

scat · noun

  1. Proto-Indo-European*skatn-
  2. Proto-Germanic*skattaz“cattle, kine, wealth”
  3. Old Norseskattr“wealth, treaure”
  4. Old Englishsċeatt“property, goods”
  5. Middle Englishscet
  6. Englishscat

From Middle English scet, schat, from Old English sċeatt (“property, goods”) and Old Norse skattr (“wealth, treaure”); both from Proto-Germanic *skattaz (“cattle, kine, wealth”), 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”).

Full word history & related roots →

scat · noun

  1. Ancient Greekσκῶρ“excrement”
  2. Englishscat

Origin uncertain. Both the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster suggest derivation from Ancient Greek σκῶρ (skôr, “excrement”), compare English scato-, but Random House Dictionary suggests that the popular character of the word makes this unlikely. Perhaps from English dialectal scat (“to scatter, fling, bespatter”), or an alteration of shit, which is also used for "drugs, heroin".

Full word history & related roots →

scat · noun

Uncertain. The OED, which connects the senses "blow" and "shower" only tentatively, suggests that at least the former might be onomatopoeia. Dialectally, the word can also refer to "a spell" of any kind of weather, e.g. "a scat of fine weather", "a scat of frost".

Full word history & related roots →

scat · noun, verb

1920s, probably imitative.

Full word history & related roots →

scat · verb, interjection

Mid 19th century: * perhaps an abbreviation of scatter. * perhaps representing a hiss followed by the word cat. Compare Swedish schas (“shoo, begone”). * Alternatively, from the expression quicker than scat (“in a great hurry”), * Possibly from scoot, from the root of shoot.

Full word history & related roots →

scat · noun

From the taxonomic name of the family.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian махам се
  • махам се (maham se)to leave quickly
French scato
  • scatocoprophilia
Japanese スカトロ
  • スカトロ (sukatoro)coprophilia
Latin apage
  • apageimperative demand to leave
Polish sio
  • sioimperative demand to leave
Russian копро, сва́ливать
  • копро (kopro)coprophilia
  • сва́ливать (sválivatʹ)to leave quickly
  • брысь (brysʹ)imperative demand to leave
Swedish skatt, spillning
  • skatttax, tribute
  • spillninganimal excrement

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with scat

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

scat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scat

MLA

“scat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scat. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scat,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scat.

Source: scat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.