mascot

See also: Mascot

English

A mascot (1).

A mascot (2).

Alternative forms

• mascotte (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from French mascotte, from Occitan mascòta (“sortilege”), feminine diminutive of masca (“witch”), from Old Occitan masca, from Medieval Latin masca (“specter, nightmare”). More at mask.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæsˌkɒt/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmæsˌkɑːt/

Noun

mascot (plural mascots)

1. Something thought to bring good luck.

   I keep this red stone as a lucky mascot and always put it on my desk in exams.

2. Something, especially a person or animal, used to symbolize a sports team, company, organization or other group.

   Tommy the Tyke is the mascot of Barnsley FC.

3. A person engaged by an organization to portray its mascot in costume.

   He's been working as a mascot at local hockey games.

4. (psychology) A personality type characterized by reliance on humor and positivity to wish away conflicts and attempt to defuse potentially violent situations.

Derived terms

• desktop mascot
• mascotry

 

Translations

something thought to bring good luck

• Bulgarian: талисман (bg) m (talisman)
• Catalan: mascota (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 吉祥物 (zh) (jíxiángwù)

• Dutch: mascotte (nl) m or f
• French: mascotte (fr) f
• Galician: mascota f
• German: Maskottchen (de) n, Maskotte (de) f
• Hebrew: קָמֵעַ (he) m (qamé'a)
• Hungarian: kabala (hu)
• Irish: sonóg f
• Italian: portafortuna (it), talismano (it)
• Japanese: マスコット (masukotto)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: maskot m

  Nynorsk: maskot m

• Occitan: mascòta (oc) f
• Polish: maskotka (pl) f
• Portuguese: mascote (pt) f
• Russian: талисма́н (ru) (talismán)
• Spanish: mascota (es)
• Swedish: maskot (sv) c
• Welsh: masgot m

something used to symbolize a sports team or other group

• Bulgarian: талисман (bg) m (talisman)
• Czech: maskot m
• Dutch: mascotte (nl) m or f
• Estonian: maskott
• French: mascotte (fr) f
• Galician: mascota f
• German: Maskottchen (de) n
• Hungarian: kabalafigura (hu), kabalababa (hu)
• Ido: maskoto
• Italian: mascotte (it) f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: maskot m

  Nynorsk: maskot m

• Polish: maskotka (pl) f
• Portuguese: mascote (pt) f
• Slovene: maskota (sl) f
• Spanish: mascota (es) f
• Swedish: maskot (sv) c
• Vietnamese: linh vật (vi)

Verb

mascot (third-person singular simple present mascots, present participle mascoting, simple past and past participle mascoted)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To act as a mascot (for).
   • 1908, The Mount Holyoke, volume 18, page 533:

     The seniors were “mascoted” by two little girls dressed in green dresses […]

   • 2012, Norman L. Macht, Connie Mack: The Turbulent and Triumphant Years, 1915-1931, page 74:

     Unlike the popular, sunny Van Zelst, McLoon was a sassy, hard-boiled kid who had been mascoting for various athletic teams and prize fighters […]

   • 2017, Paul Dickson, Leo Durocher: Baseball's Prodigal Son:

     Bennett then signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, whom he mascoted to the 1921 pennant and two wins in the first three games of the World Series, which were played at home.

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