Get away scot-free; If someone gets away scot-free, they are not punished when they have done something wrong. This idiom meaning to escape punishment, harm, or negative consequences for a wrongdoing. It describes someone who avoids the penalties they deserve, such as in the example, "The court let her off scot-free". The phrase originates from medieval England, where a "scot" was a tax or payment; "scot-free" meant being exempt from this payment.
"SKOT" was an early Icelandic and Old Norse word for "payment" or "tax". It came into Middle English as "bescot", referring specifically to a customary tax paid to a lord, bailiff, or sheriff, and into Old French as "escot", and ultimately into modern English as "scot". Thus "scot-free" literally means "exempt from tax"; it has since been broadened to indicate "exempt from punishment" - as in "the prisoner got off scot-free". It has no connection to Scotland.
It is commonly used in contexts of crimes, mistakes, or actions deserving of blame.
