scout out

[thedaffodils]

eg1 He's scouting about/around for somewhere better to live.

eg2 She's opened an office in Connecticut to scout out (= discover information about) the east coast housing market.

Hello! The quoted words are from Cambridge Dictionary about the definition of "scout". I understand the meaning of "scout", which means search. But What is the exact meaning of the phrase -scout out? Is it only related to "information"? Can I replace it with "scout around for" in sentence 2?

Thanks!

[Reemy]

Hello! The quoted words are from Cambridge Dictionary about the definition of "scout". I understand the meaning of "scout", which means search. But What is the exact meaning of the phrase -scout out? Is it only related to "information"? Can I replace it with "scout around for" in sentence 2?

Thanks!

The way I see it is that both phrasal verbs ( scout around/out) give in some contexts the meaning of to find by seeking, searching, so I think they could by exchangeable.



See quotes below from three online dictionaries:

scout out is
-to find out what an area is like or where something is, by searching:

e.g. We went ahead to scout out the lie of the land.

- Sometimes out/ up is used with scout to give the meaning of seek, search.
e.g. to scout up a date for Friday night.

-to find by seeking, searching, or looking (usually fol. by out or up): Scout out a good book for me to read.

in BRIT, also use scout round If you scout around or scout round for something, you go to different places looking for it. (=look around)
They scouted around for more fuel... V P for n
I scouted round in the bushes. V P

[thedaffodils]

Hi Reemy,

Thank you for your answer. You're helpful.