Scape"goat` (?), n. [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.

 

© Webster 1913.