"great Scott" meaning in English

See great Scott in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Interjection

IPA: /ɡɹeɪt skɒt/
Etymology: Uncertain or disputed. May come from Gen. Winfield Scott of the American Civil War, who weighed about 300 pounds and was referred to by his troops as "Great Scott". Alternately, perhaps a corruption of German grüß Gott! (“Good day!, Hello!”, literally “May God greet (thee)!”), or a euphemism for great Satan or good God. Etymology templates: {{unc|en}} Uncertain, {{bor|en|de|grüß Gott|grüß Gott!|lit=May God greet (thee)!|t=Good day!, Hello!}} German grüß Gott! (“Good day!, Hello!”, literally “May God greet (thee)!”), {{glossary|euphemism}} euphemism Head templates: {{en-interj}} great Scott
  1. (dated) An exclamation of surprise or amazement Wikipedia link: Great Scott, Green's Dictionary of Slang, Winfield Scott Tags: dated Synonyms: wow Translations (exclamation of surprise or amazement): herranjestas (Finnish), nom de Zeus (French), grande Giove (Italian), 何だる事だ (nandaru koto da) (Japanese), jösses (Swedish)

Alternative forms

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        "3": "grüß Gott",
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          "ref": "1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Red-Headed League:",
          "text": "“It's all clear,” he whispered. “Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!”\nSherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts.",
          "type": "quote"
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          "ref": "1943, H. Lorna Bingham, The Lost Tribe, Sydney: Winn and Co., page 15, column 1:",
          "text": "\"Great Scott!\" said Mr. Jamieson. \"I didn't think things were as serious as that.\"",
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          "code": "fi",
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          "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
          "word": "herranjestas"
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          "code": "fr",
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          "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
          "word": "nom de Zeus"
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          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
          "word": "grande Giove"
        },
        {
          "code": "ja",
          "lang": "Japanese",
          "roman": "nandaru koto da",
          "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
          "word": "何だる事だ"
        },
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          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
          "word": "jösses"
        }
      ],
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        "Great Scott",
        "Green's Dictionary of Slang",
        "Winfield Scott"
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  ],
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      "ipa": "/ɡɹeɪt skɒt/"
    }
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          "text": "“It's all clear,” he whispered. “Have you the chisel and the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!”\nSherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts.",
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      "ipa": "/ɡɹeɪt skɒt/"
    }
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      "word": "wow"
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  ],
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      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
      "word": "herranjestas"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
      "word": "nom de Zeus"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
      "word": "grande Giove"
    },
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      "code": "ja",
      "lang": "Japanese",
      "roman": "nandaru koto da",
      "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
      "word": "何だる事だ"
    },
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      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "sense": "exclamation of surprise or amazement",
      "word": "jösses"
    }
  ],
  "word": "great Scott"
}

Download raw JSONL data for great Scott meaning in English (3.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (95d2be1 and 64224ec). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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