put an egg in one's shoe and beat it

English

Etymology

A pun on beat it (“go away, scram”) and the process of beating eggs in cookery, with a person's shoe seen as a means of departure from a place.

Verb

put an egg in one's shoe and beat it (third-person singular simple present puts an egg in one's shoe and beats it, present participle putting an egg in one's shoe and beating it, simple past and past participle put an egg in one's shoe and beat it)

1. (slang, chiefly imperative) To go away; get lost; scram.
   • 1910, O. Henry, “What You Want”, in Strictly Different:

     You better put an egg in your shoe and beat it before incidents occur to you.

   • 1991, Stephen King, Needful Things:

     At twenty to ten, Henry Beaufort, bartender and owner of The Mellow Tiger, had invited Hugh to put an egg in his shoe and beat it, to make like a tree and leave, to imitate an amoeba and split — in other words, to get the fuck out.