scout [LME] Scouts go ahead of a main force to gather information about an enemy’s position and strength. The root of the word scout implies that the first scouts used their ears to pick up clues rather than making visual observations, as it is Latin auscultare ‘to listen to’ via Old French escouter. The English soldier Lord Baden-Powell admired the skills and resilience of these military scouts, and had also seen the successful use of boys as scouts by the Boers in southern Africa. In 1908 he founded the Scout Association to develop boys’ characters by training them in self-sufficiency and survival techniques. Scout’s honour is the oath members take that they will stand by a promise and tell the truth.