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.