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Webster 1913 Edition
Scapegoat
Scape′goatˊ
,Noun.
[
Scape
(for escape
) + goat
.] 1.
(Jewish Antiq.)
A goat upon whose head were symbolically placed the sins of the people, after which he was suffered to escape into the wilderness.
Lev. xvi. 10.
2.
Hence, a person or thing that is made to bear blame for others.
Tennyson.