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".
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.
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:
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
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:
“[…] I hear he’s into S&M and scat and all kinds of kinky shit. […]” 1998, Dennis Cooper, Guide, Grove Press, →ISBN, page 170:
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".
Meanings
(uncommon) A 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:
... 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:
(UK, dialectal) A 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:
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:
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.
Meanings
(colloquial) An imperative demand to leave, often understood by speaker and listener as impertinent.
'Scat! Go on, scat!' she called, trying to shoo it away. 2014, Marita Conlon-McKenna, The Hat Shop On The Corner, page 24:
“Scat! Shoo bird!” The bird merely stared, its dark eyes glinting. 2009, Coleen D'Andrea, The Harbinger, page 30:
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! Go on! Get out of here!
Translations (9)
pl sio (imperative demand to leave) · az köşdə (imperative demand to leave) · ru брысь (imperative demand to leave) · bg махам се (to leave quickly) · ru сва́ливать (to leave quickly) · nv kxodjįʼ (imperative demand to leave) · mk бри́ши (imperative demand to leave) · la apage (imperative demand to leave) · az pişdə (imperative demand to leave)
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.
Meanings
(colloquial) To leave quickly.
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:
Here comes the principal; we'd better scat.
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: