View source for scram

{{also|SCRAM}}
==English==
{{was wotd|2020|December|20}}

===Pronunciation===
* {{enPR|skrăm|a=RP,GA}}, {{IPA|en|/skɹæm/}}
* {{audio|en|LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-scram.wav|a=Southern England}}
* {{rhymes|en|æm|s=1}}

===Etymology 1===
Probably either:

* a {{clipping|en|scramble|nocap=1}} by {{glossary|apocope}}; or
* from dialectal {{der|en|de|schramm}}, the {{glossary|imperative}} {{glossary|singular}} form of {{m|de|schrammen|t=to scratch, scrape}},<ref>{{R:OED Online|pos=''v.''{{sup|2}}|noformat=1|id=173294|date=1982|nodot=1}}; compare {{R:Lexico|pos=v}}</ref> from Late {{der|en|gmh|schramm}}, {{m|gmh|schramme|t=a graze, scratch}}; further etymology unknown.

====Verb====
{{en-verb}}

# {{lb|en|intransitive|originally|US|often|imperative}} To [[leave#Verb|leave]] in a [[hurry#Noun|hurry]]; to [[go away]]. {{defdate|from early 20th c.}}
#: {{synonyms|en|Thesaurus:go away}}
#: {{ux|en|What are you kids doing on my lawn? '''Scram'''!}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Franklin W. Dixon [pseudonym; {{w|Leslie McFarlane}}]|chapter=Rival Detectives|title=w:The Tower Treasure|series=w:The Hardy Boys|seriesvolume=1|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=w:Grosset & Dunlap|year=1927|year_published=1987 (2006 printing)|isbn=978-1-4406-7315-3|passage=Maybe when he found that Chet's jalopy was gone, he felt he'd better '''scram''', and forgot the coat and hat.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Harry Carr|chapter=So This is Los Angeles|title=Los Angeles, City of Dreams|location=New York, N.Y.; London|publisher=[[w:Appleton-Century-Crofts|D[aniel] Appleton-Century Company]]|year=1935|page=241|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=f1MLAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA241|oclc=1153648512|passage=The boy who was playing glowered at the intruder and growled. "Well, '''scram''' Kibitzer; '''scram'''."}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|author=J. Lane Linklater|title=The Signal: A Short Short Story|editor=w:Fulton Oursler|magazine=[[w:Liberty (general interest magazine)|Liberty]]|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=Liberty Publishing|date=23 February 1935|volume=12|issue=8|page=35|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=UgMdAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA7-PA35|column=2|oclc=72942004|passage="Come on!" barked Harry. "'''Scram'''!"}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:John Steinbeck|chapter=|title=w:Of Mice and Men|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=w:Penguin Books|year=1937|year_published=1994|isbn=978-1-101-65980-9|passage=Jus' go on like we was gonna buck barley the rest of our lives, then all of a sudden some day we'll go get our pay an' '''scram''' outta here.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Hans Natonek|chapter=The Affair of the Semi-private Bathroom|translator=w:Barthold Fles|editor=Sugden Tilley|title=In Search of Myself|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=[[w:G. P. Putnam's Sons|G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons]]|year=1943|section=part 2 (The Year before the Decision)|page=89|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=BrpBAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA89|isbn=|passage="You '''scram''' out of here!" she admonished me fiercely. "Get out, or I'll scream so loud I'll wake the whole house up! You—you Peeping Tom!"}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Mickey Spillane|chapter=|title=w:My Gun is Quick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xe0eiO0E2gQC&pg=PT141|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=Signet, {{w|New American Library}}|year=1950|year_published=2014|isbn=978-1-101-17445-6|passage=One day he packs in here with a new convertible, tells me he's moving out and '''scrams'''. Never give me a dime.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Don DeLillo|title=[[w:Libra (novel)|Libra]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7KGu3V4CXvsC&pg=PT232|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=w:Penguin Books|year=1988|year_published=2006|isbn=978-1-101-04217-5|passage=George was going to Haiti and he knew Lee would feel that the one man who took an interest in him was '''scramming''' out the door.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:MaryJanice Davidson|chapter=28|title=w:Undead and Unappreciated|series=Berkley Sensation|edition=mass-market|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=w:Berkley Books|month=July|year=2005|year_published=December 2005|page=225|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=CFCqgieGRbwC&pg=PA225|isbn=978-0-425-20722-2|passage=[T]wo vampires had picked up the guy who needed a new face, and they '''scrammed'''.}}

=====Derived terms=====
* {{l|en|amscray}}

=====Translations=====
{{trans-top|to leave in a hurry}}
* Arabic: {{t+|ar|غَرَبَ}}
* Bulgarian: {{t|bg|махам се}}, {{t|bg|пръждосвам се}}
* Chinese:
*: Mandarin: {{t+|cmn|滾|tr=gǔn}}
* Czech: {{t|cs|zdejchnout se|pf}}, {{t|cs|vypařit se|pf}}, {{t+|cs|zmizet|pf}}, {{t+|cs|vypadnout|pf}}
* Dutch: {{t+|nl|wegwezen}}
* Finnish: {{t+|fi|häipyä}}, {{t|fi|ottaa hatkat}}, {{t|fi|[[lähteä]] [[lipettiin]]}}
* French: {{t+|fr|décamper}}, {{t+|fr|décaniller}}, {{t+|fr|dégager}}, {{t+|fr|ficher le camp}}, {{t+|fr|se barrer}}, {{t+|fr|se casser}}, {{t+|fr|s'en aller}}, {{t+|fr|se tailler}}, {{t+|fr|se tirer}}, {{t+|fr|déguerpir}}
* German: {{t+|de|abhauen}}, {{t+|de|abzischen}}, {{t+|de|Land gewinnen}}, {{t+|de|Reißaus nehmen}}, {{t|de|sich davonmachen}}, {{t+|de|verduften}}, {{t+|de|verschwinden}}, {{t+|de|weggehen}}
* Italian: {{t+|it|andare via}}, {{t+|it|smammare}}
* Maori: {{t|mi|hie}}
* Portuguese: {{t+|pt|sumir}}, {{t+|pt|vazar}}
* Romanian: {{t|ro|se [[cărăbăni]]}}, {{t|ro|o șterge}}, {{t|ro|se [[tira]]}}
* Russian: {{t+|ru|вали́ть|impf}}
* Spanish: {{t+|es|irse}}, {{t+|es|largarse}}, {{t+|es|marcharse}}, {{t+|es|retirarse}}
* Turkish: {{t+|tr|sıvışmak}}, {{t+|tr|tüymek}}
{{trans-bottom}}

====Noun====
{{en-noun}}

# {{C|en|Firearms}}{{tlb|en|MLE|slang}} A [[gun]], [[firearm]].
#* {{quote-song|en|date=2023-06-18|title=100mph Freestyle x3|url=https://genius.com/Clavish-100mph-freestyle-x3-lyrics|lyricist=w:Clavish|note=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQjuIqwoE8&t=72 1:12]|passage=My manager says I'm stupid for still rollin' with a '''scram'''<br/>I hate explainin' myself and I don't think he'll understand}}

===Etymology 2===
{{uncertain|en}}; the verb is possibly derived from [[#Etymology 1|etymology 1]].<ref>{{R:OED Online|pos=''v.''{{sup|3}}|noformat=1|id=173295|date=1982|nodot=1}}; {{R:Lexico|pos=v}}</ref> It has been suggested that the word is an [[acronym]] for phrases like “safety control rod actuator mechanism”, “safety cut rope axe man”, “safety control rod axe man”, and “safety control rods activation mechanism”, but these are most likely [[backronym]]s.

The {{glossary|noun}} is probably derived from the verb.<ref>{{R:OED Online|pos=''n.''{{sup|2}}|noformat=1|id=173291|date=1982|nodot=1}}; {{R:Lexico|pos=n}}</ref>

====Verb====
{{en-verb|scrams|scraming|pres_ptc2=scramming|scramed|past2=scrammed}} {{term-label|en|chiefly|nuclear physics}}

# {{lb|en|transitive}} To [[shut down]] (a [[nuclear reactor]] or, ''by extension'', some other [[thing]]) for [[safety]] [[reason#Noun|reasons]], usually because of an [[emergency]]. {{C|en|Radioactivity}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|author=Randy Warsaw|title=Fermi II&nbsp;– A Plant Tour|editor=Ray Barry|journal=The Michigan Technic|location=[Ann Arbor, Mich.]|publisher=College of Engineering, {{w|University of Michigan}}|month=December|year=1976|volume=XCV|issue=3|page=15|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBokAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA14-PA15|issn=0026-2471|oclc=17266335|passage=The NCR &#91;{{w|Nuclear Regulatory Commission}}&#93; further demands the plant conform to all the safety requirements put into effect during construction. This means constant re-design. There must also be several ways to '''scram''' (emergency shut down) the reactor. Some of these are automatic and some are manual.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|chapter=Appendix II—Answers to Written Questions Posed to Nuclear Regulatory Commission before the Hearings|title={{w|Nuclear Regulatory Commission}} Authorization Requests: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Energy and Power of the [[w:United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce|Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce]], [[w:United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], Ninety-fifth [[w:United States Congress|Congress]], Second Session, on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Requests for an Increased Authorization for Fiscal Year 1978 and for a Fiscal Year 1979 Authorization of $330,000,000:{{nb...|February 14 and 15, 1978 [...] Printed for the Use of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce}}|series=Serial No. 95-161|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=[[w:United States Government Publishing Office|U.S. Government Printing Office]]|year=1978|page=794|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXEmAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA794|oclc=880096456|passage=Startup of reactor recirculating pump resulted in flux spike '''scraming''' plant.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|editors=w:Michio Kaku; Jennifer Trainer|title=Nuclear Power, Both Sides: The Best Arguments for and against the Most Controversial Technology|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=[[w:W. W. Norton & Company|W[illiam] W[arder] Norton]]|year=1983|page=22|isbn=978-0-393-30128-1|passage=The slightest problem in a reactor will cause the control rods to plunge automatically in the uranium core at high speeds (this is called '''''scramming''''' the reactor) and stop the chain reaction.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Ralph R. Fullwood|chapter=Analyzing Nuclear Reactor Safety Systems|title=Probabilistic Safety Assessment in the Chemical and Nuclear Industries|location=Boston, Mass.|publisher=w:Butterworth-Heinemann|year=2000|section=section 6.1.4.3 (ABB PIUS)|page=218|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=CAUuWcTmNrQC&pg=PA218|isbn=978-0-7506-7208-5|passage=Both active and manual methods '''scram''' by tripping power to a dedicated pump that unbalances the flows to the{{sic}} passively '''scram''' the reactor.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Samuel Upton Newtan|chapter=Nuclear Reactor Disasters: Part I: Stationary Reactors (Non-breeders)|title=Nuclear War I and Other Major Nuclear Disasters of the 20th Century|location=Bloomington, Ind.; Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire|publisher=w:AuthorHouse|date=22 June 2007|page=113|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=L6aDwi2kWwUC&pg=RA1-PA113|isbn=978-1-4259-8511-0|passage=The reactor was then "'''scramed'''", but the control rods did not slide back into the reactor.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=D. Michael Battey|chapter=35|title=Tenacity Gene|location=Bloomington, Ind.|publisher=w:iUniverse|date=12 December 2012|page=174|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZVgtcDpJjMC&pg=PA174|isbn=978-1-4759-5499-9|passage=Raising group eight rods and brining a nuclear reactor fully to life for the first time in nearly ten years—everyone was so ready they were all ready to pee in their pants. Andrews did not know he could do it without '''SCRAMing''' the reactor—in other words, pushing it into an automatic shutdown that might be too little too late.}}
# {{lb|en|intransitive}} Of a nuclear reactor or some other thing: to shut down, usually because of an emergency.
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Charles Perrow|chapter=Nuclear Power as a High-risk System|title=Normal Accidents: Living with High-risk Technologies|location=Princeton, N.J.|publisher=w:Princeton University Press|year=1984|year_published=1999|page=44|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=VC5hYoMw4N0C&pg=PA44|isbn=978-0-691-00412-9|passage=This shut off current to the control rod mechanism, and the reactor '''scrammed''' (shut off) automatically.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Daniel Yergin|chapter=The Urgency of Fuel Choice|title=The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World|edition=revised|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=w:Penguin Books|year=2012|section=part 3 (The Electric Age)|page=415|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=nmXCgIcFK-gC&pg=PA415|isbn=978-1-59420-283-4|passage=As soon as the earthquake struck, the reactors "'''scrammed'''"—shut down automatically—as they were supposed to.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Nabil Abu el Ata; Rudolf Schmandt|chapter=Understanding the Hidden Risk of Dynamic Complexity|title=The Tyranny of Uncertainty: A New Framework to Predict, Remediate and Monitor Risk|location=Berlin; Heidelberg|publisher=[[w:Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]|year=2016|section=part I (Once upon a Time)|page=21|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gA1DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|doi=10.1007/978-3-662-49104-1|isbn=978-3-662-49103-4|passage=Immediately after the earthquake, following government regulations, the remaining reactors, 1–3, automatically '''SCRAMed'''; control rods shut down sustained fission reactions.}}

=====Alternative forms=====
* {{l|en|SCRAM}}

=====Derived terms=====
* {{l|en|scramming|pos=noun}}

=====Translations=====
{{trans-top|to shut down (a nuclear reactor or, ''by extension'', some other thing) for safety reasons, usually because of an emergency}}
{{trans-bottom}}

{{trans-top|of a nuclear reactor or some other thing: to shut down, usually because of an emergency}}
{{trans-bottom}}

====Noun====
{{en-noun}} {{term-label|en|chiefly|nuclear physics}}

# {{lb|en|also|attributively}} A [[shutdown]] of a [[nuclear reactor]] (or, ''by extension'', some other [[thing]]), often done [[rapidly]] due to an [[emergency]].
#* {{quote-book|en|author=John Roberts; S. F. Armour|chapter=Introduction|title=T7 Tanker Locking Piston Control Rod Drive Scram Analysis|series=GEAP 3561|location=Oak Ridge, Tenn.|publisher=Office of Technical Information, {{w|United States Atomic Energy Commission}}|date=5 October 1960|page=2|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ga-HzqCv0B8C&pg=PA2|oclc=794672341|passage=During '''scram''' operation, a '''scram''' signal de-energizes the inlet and outlet '''scram''' valves. The outlet '''scram''' valve vents the volume above the drive piston to a '''scram''' dump tank. The inlet '''scram''' valve supplies '''scram''' pressure obtained from an accumulator to the under side of the vented piston.}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|author=staff of First Atomic Ship Transport, Inc.|title=Operating Experience of the N.S. Savannah in Commercial Service|journal=Nuclear Safety: A Quarterly Technical Progress Review|location=[Oak Ridge, Tenn.]|publisher=Division of Technical Information, {{w|United States Atomic Energy Commission}}|month=fall|year=1966|volume=8|issue=1|section=VI|page=65|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=MEFS0-OREQMC&pg=PA65|issn=0029-5604|oclc=859780278|passage=Of the 14 '''scrams''' experienced, none was caused by operation exceeding the design parameters. Eight '''scrams''' occurred with the control rods withdrawn. [...] Six '''scrams''' occurred while the rods were inserted. Five were intentional to prevent accidental rod withdrawal, and one was the unintentional result of an instrument adjustment.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Alan E. Waltar; Albert B. Reynolds|chapter=Unprotected Transients|title=Fast Breeder Reactors|series=Pergamon International Library of Science, Technology, Engineering and Social Studies|location=New York, N.Y.; Oxford, Oxfordshire|publisher=w:Pergamon Press|year=1981|section=section 15-5.D (Loss of Ultimate Heat Sink)|page=604|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=4m6o1jMcIIIC&pg=PA604|isbn=978-0-08-025983-3|passage=By the time '''scram''' is completed, coolant temperatures would likely be climbing due to the combination of a large heat capacity within the fuel pins and low coolant flow.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Nabil Abu el Ata; Rudolf Schmandt|chapter=Understanding the Hidden Risk of Dynamic Complexity|title=The Tyranny of Uncertainty: A New Framework to Predict, Remediate and Monitor Risk|location=Berlin; Heidelberg|publisher=[[w:Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]|year=2016|section=part I (Once upon a Time)|page=21|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gA1DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|doi=10.1007/978-3-662-49104-1|isbn=978-3-662-49103-4|passage=Although fission stops almost immediately with a '''SCRAM''', fission products in the fuel continue to release decay heat, initially about 6.5% of full reactor power. [...] Corresponding with the '''SCRAM''', emergency generators were automatically activated to power electronics and cooling systems.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Min Lee|chapter=The Past, Present and Future of Nuclear Power in Taiwan|editor=Xu Yi-chong|title=Nuclear Energy Development in Asia: Problems and Prospects|location=Basingstoke, Hampshire|publisher=w:Palgrave Macmillan|year=2011|page=171|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=AiR-DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA171|doi=10.1057/9780230306332|isbn=978-1-349-31645-8|passage=Other indicators can be used to measure the performance of an NPP [nuclear power plant] including the number of '''scrams''' (emergency shutdowns of a nuclear reactor), the collective dose (a measure of the total amount of effective dose multiplied by the size of the exposed population), the amount of low-level waste generated, and the fuel reliability. The number of '''scrams''' dropped from the peak of 30 in 1984 to only one in 2004 and 2–3 in the last two years.}}
# The [[device]] [[use#Verb|used]] to [[shut down]] a [[nuclear reactor]]; also, the [[button#Noun|button]] or [[switch#Noun|switch]] used to [[initiate]] a shutdown.
#* {{quote-journal|en|author=Kenneth Calkins|title=Linac and Dynamitron|magazine=Boeing Magazine|location=Seattle, Wash.|publisher=Public Relations Division, [[w:Boeing|Boeing Airplane Company]]|month=June|year=1963|volume=XXXIII|issue=6|page=6|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=ctYMAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA5-PA6|column=2|oclc=1052694660|passage=Each room housing a radiation source has a red-buttoned "'''scram'''" switch on the wall. One touch of the switch and all equipment stops abruptly.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Tom Clancy|title=Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wQG95Vd5iYYC&pg=PT410|location=New York, N.Y.|publisher=w:Berkley Books|year=1993|year_published=November 1996|isbn=978-0-425-15454-0|passage=She watched as the Marine technical team leader pressed the red '''SCRAM''' buttons for each reactor, setting off a chorus of alarms.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Vladimir M. Munipov|chapter=Ergonomics [Disregarding Ergonomic Design Principles: Chernobyl]|editor=Jeanne Mager Stellman|title=Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety|edition=4th|location=Geneva|publisher=[[w:International Labour Organization|International Labour Office]]|year=1998|volume=I|page=!29-96|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=vW6rXFvm4sQC&pg=SA29-PA96|isbn=978-92-2-109814-0|passage=In particular, measures have been taken to make the '''scram''' system more fast-operating and to exclude any possibility of its being deliberately shut off by the personnel.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Dieter Berg|chapter=Radionuclides Released into the Environment|editors=Richard Tykva; Dieter Berg|title=Man-made and Natural Radioactivity in Environmental Pollution and Radiochronology|series=Environmental Pollution|location=Dordrecht|publisher=w:Springer Science+Business Media|year=2004|page=119|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=WqJfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA119|doi=10.1007/978-94-017-0496-0|isbn=978-90-481-6528-5|passage=Today it is considered to be true that the accident paradoxically was ultimately caused by the emergency shut down of the reactor. By sending in the practically completely withdrawn '''scram''' and control rods, the reactivity of the reactor by the faulty conception of the rods was for a short time not lowered, but augmented.}}

=====Alternative forms=====
* {{l|en|SCRAM}}

=====Derived terms=====
* [[reactor scram]]

=====Translations=====
{{trans-top|shutdown of a nuclear reactor (or, ''by extension'', some other thing), often done rapidly due to an emergency}}
{{trans-bottom}}

{{trans-top|device used to shut down a nuclear reactor; also, the button or switch used to initiate a shutdown}}
{{trans-bottom}}

===Etymology 3===
The {{glossary|verb}} is a variant of dialectal [[w:English language|English]] {{m|en|scramb|t=to pull or rake together with the hands; to gather a handful of something from the ground; to scratch with the claws or nails; to pull down violently; to tear off; to maul about; a handful of something from the ground}}, possibly related to {{der|en|nl|schrammen|t=to graze, scratch}}<ref>{{R:English Dialect Dictionary|entry=SCRAMB|pos=v.'' and ''sb|page=269|passage=To scratch with the nails or claws.|nodot=1}}</ref> and {{der|en|de|schrammen|t=to scratch, scrape}}; see [[#Etymology 1|etymology 1]].

The {{glossary|noun}} is derived from the verb.

====Verb====
{{en-verb}}

# {{senseid|en|scratch}}{{lb|en|transitive|Derbyshire|Wales}} To [[scratch#Verb|scratch]] (something) with [[claw#Noun|claws]] or [[fingernail]]s; to [[claw#Verb|claw]].
#* {{quote-web|en|author=Ted Duckworth|title=scram|work=A Dictionary of Slang|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830021725/http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/s.htm|archivedate=30 August 2013|year=1996–2020|passage='''scram''' [...] ''Verb.'' [...] 2. To scratch, with claws or fingernails. E.g. "It's my own fault the cat '''scrammed''' me, I was teasing it." [South Wales use]|brackets=on}}
#* {{quote-web|en|author=Abby Bolter|title=Firefighters Rescue Woman Trapped in Bridgend Flat following an Alleged Arson Attack|work=[[w:Media Wales#WalesOnline|WalesOnline]]|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20131224233339/http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/firefighters-rescue-woman-trapped-bridgend-6430085|archivedate=24 December 2013|date=19 December 2013|passage=A woman has praised firefighters and her cat for saving her life following an alleged arson attack. Two-and-a-half-year-old tortoiseshell Taffy repeatedly bit owner Tracie Horgan-Hodgkiss on the hand until she woke up when her flat filled with acrid smoke in the early hours of this morning. [...] "I’d like to say thank you very much to the firefighters for coming to rescue me. And I am sorry that Taffy '''scrammed''' one of them!"}}
# {{lb|en|transitive|US|mining|archaic}} To [[mine#Verb|mine]] for [[ore]] on a [[small]] [[scale#Noun|scale]], especially from [[mine#Noun|mines]] previously been [[work#Verb|worked]] on where most of the ore is [[believe]]d to have been [[remove#Verb|removed]].
#* {{quote-journal|en|title=Marquette Iron District|journal=Annual Report of the Commissioner of Mineral Statistics of the State of Michigan, for 1879|location=Lansing, Mich.|publisher=W. S. George & Co.,{{nb...|state printers and binders.}}|year=1880|page=167|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=9j1BAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA167|oclc=7854637|passage=Just west of this pit is another one, which has been nearly worked out; but three men are '''scramming''' about five tons per day in it.}}
#* {{quote-journal|en|author=A. P. Swineford|title=The Cyclops Mine|journal=Annual Review of the Iron Mining and Other Industries of the Upper Peninsula for the Year Ending Dec. 31, 1881|location=[Marquette, Mich.]|publisher=Mining Journal|year=1882|page=141|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=iswdAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA141|oclc=18002409|passage=Recently, Capt. Oliver, [...] set a couple of experienced miners to work '''scramming''' in this underground pit, when it was soon discovered that what the former mining captain had conceived to be a regular foot-wall, was, in fact, a thin shale of rock, which hid from view what now appears to be a very large body of clean blue ore.}}

=====Translations=====
{{trans-see|to scratch (something) with claws or fingernails|claw}}

====Noun====
{{en-noun}}

# {{lb|en|Derbyshire|Wales}} A [[scratch#Noun|scratch]], especially caused by [[claw#Noun|claws]] or [[fingernail]]s.
#* {{quote-web|en|author=Ted Duckworth|title=scram|work=A Dictionary of Slang|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830021725/http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/s.htm|archivedate=30 August 2013|year=1996–2020|passage='''scram''' [...] ''Noun.'' [...] 2. A scratch. [South Wales use]|brackets=on}}
# {{lb|en|US|mining|archaic}} A [[mine#Noun|mine]] previously [[work#Verb|worked]] on where most of the [[ore]] is [[believe]]d to have been [[remove#Verb|removed]], but which is still being [[mine#Verb|mined]] on a [[small]] [[scale#Noun|scale]].
#* {{quote-book|en|author=Cha[rle]s D. Lawton|chapter=The Jackson Iron Co.”; “The Cleveland Mining Co.|title=Mines and Mineral Statistics|location=Lansing, Mich.|publisher=Thorp & Godfrey,{{nb...|state printers and binders.}}|year=1887|pages=64 and 67|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=kDVBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA64|oclc=1109248127|passage=&#91;[https://books.google.com/books?id=kDVBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA64 page 64]&#93; Many of these old openings still afford places where ore is mined. A man can start in almost anywhere and fine ore. There is a great deal of this "scramming" done at the Jackson. Quite a proportion of the annual product comes in this way. Not unfrequently one of these "'''scrams'''" leads to the finding of a large deposit of ore. [...] &#91;[https://books.google.com/books?id=kDVBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA67 page 67]&#93; South from the east part of the Incline pit they have a '''scram''' of good ore which furnished a small product.}}
#* {{quote-book|en|author=[[w:Newton Horace Winchell|N[ewton] H[orace] Winchell]]; H[orace] V[aughn] Winchell|chapter=The Chandler Mine|title=The Iron Ores of Minnesota,{{nb...|Their Geology, Discovery, Development, Qualities and Origin, and Comparison with Those of Other Iron Districts, with a Geological Map, 26 Figures and 44 Plates.}}|series=Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota Bulletin|seriesvolume=no. 6|location=Minneapolis, Minn.|publisher=Harrison & Smith,{{nb...|state printers.}}|year=1891|section=part II (Methods of Exploration and Mining, and Descriptions of the Various Mines)|page=196|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=HYk2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA196|oclc=487100576|passage=There are numbered workings running to about 20, representing small pits and '''scrams''', sometimes worked by contract by "scrammers."}}

=====Translations=====
{{trans-top|scratch, especially caused by claws or fingernails}}
{{trans-bottom}}

===Etymology 4===
{{unknown|en|Origin unknown}}.<ref>Compare {{R:English Dialect Dictionary|pos=''v.''{{sup|3}}|noformat=1|page=269|column=1}}</ref>

====Verb====
{{en-verb}} {{term-label|en|intransitive|Britain|dialectal|archaic}}

# Of one's [[body]] or [[limb]]s: to [[become]] [[numb#Adjective|numb]] or [[stiff#Adjective|stiff]] due to [[cold#Noun|cold]], [[lack#Noun|lack]] of [[movement]], etc.
#* {{quote-book|en|author=w:Frances Freeling Broderip|chapter=Murder Will Out. An ‘Owre True Tale.’|title=Way-side Fancies|location=London|publisher={{w|Edward Moxon}},{{nb...|Dover Street.}}|year=1857|section=part 2|page=13|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=FR5cAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA13|oclc=4613090|passage=The bean-setters can fully appreciate the nipping, biting keenness of the air, and avow frankly, in their own peculiar idiom, "that they be pretty nigh '''scrammed'''!"}}
#* {{RQ:Hardy Wessex Poems|poem=The Fire at Tranter Sweatley's|page=191|passage=But though he had breeches and waistcoats to spare, / He had nothing quite seemly for Barbee to wear, / Who, half '''shrammed''' to death, stood and cried on a chair / At the caddle she found herself in.}}
#* {{RQ:Hardy Ethelberta|volume=II|chapter=Melchester—(''continued'')|page=180|passage=[O]n a frosty winter night he'll keep me there while he tweedles upon the Twelfth and Sixteenth till my arms be '''scrammed''' for want of motion.}}
# To be [[weaken]]ed by an [[accident]], a [[disease#Noun|disease]], [[starvation]], etc.
#* {{quote-book|en|chapter=I|title=How Mary Edmonds Did What She Could; and What Came of it after Many Days|location=London|publisher=[[w:Religious Tract Society|The Religious Tract Society]],{{nb...|56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul’s Churchyard; and 164, Piccadilly.}}|year=[1867]|pages=14–15|pageurl=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VEDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA14|oclc=559519995|passage="But they will be '''scrammed'''!{{sup|*}} the children will be '''scrammed''', Mary, before morning," cried Jim, scratching his head with perplexity and distress at the very thought of two young creatures sleeping on the bare boards, in a cold garret with only a shawl to cover them. [''Footnote *'': Starved.]}}

===References===
<references/>

===Further reading===
* {{pedia}}
* {{pedia|scram (disambiguation)}}
* {{R:Online Etymology Dictionary}}

===Anagrams===
* {{anagrams|en|a=acmrs|Crams|MRCAs|crams|marcs|mrcas}}