scapegoat [M16th] In the biblical Book of Leviticus God tells Moses that the Jewish people should take two goats and cast lots to determine their fate—the chief priest is to lay the sins of the people on one before driving it out into the wilderness, while the other is to be sacrificed. The animal driven away is the scapegoat. This was the only context in which the word appeared until the early 19th century, when it extended its meaning to ‘a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings of others’. The first part, scape, is a shortening of escape, as the goat escapes death by sacrifice.