The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - scout v.

1) Often, scout about or around. reconnoitre, investigate, study, research, examine, explore, spy, search or look (about or around) (for) , hunt (about or around) (for) , cast around or about (for) , Colloq check (about or around) : I am going to scout about to find a key that fits. 2) scout up or out. discover, find, locate, uncover, Colloq dig up: I was finally able to scout up a key that fits.