English

Alternative forms

• Boy Scout

Noun

boy scout ‎(plural boy scouts)

1. A male member of the Scout Movement.
2. A person adhering to the values of honor and honesty.
3. (slang, often pejorative) A person, especially a politician, who is idealistic and naive
   • 1982 The economist, Volume 284, Economist Newspaper Ltd., p24

     An independently rich 52-year-old, he is very much a political boy scout, and has flailed the state Republican party as a cloistered "country club".

   • 1987 Wall Street Journal, October 2

     But the bottom line is that Simon is running for president as the boy scout who adheres to traditional liberal policies and solutions.

   • 2003 Roger F. S. Kaplan, Conservative socialism: the decline of radicalism and triumph of the Left in France, Transaction Publishers, p91

     Rocard, whose two marriages had failed during his long years as the left's boy scout, was reported to be living with a psychoanalyst.

Synonyms

• altar boy