skedaddle

English

WOTD – 28 January 2008

Etymology

19th century US. Probably an alteration of British dialect scaddle (“to run off in a fright”), from the adjective scaddle (“wild, timid, skittish”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English scathel, skadylle (“harmful, fierce, wild”), perhaps of Scandinavian origin, from Old Norse *sköþull; or from Old English *scaþol, *sceaþol (see scathel); akin to Old Norse skaði (“harm”). Possibly related to the Greek σκέδασις (skédasis, “scattering”), σκεδασμός (skedasmós, “dispersion”). (US) Possibly related to scud or scat.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skɪˈdædəl/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (AU):

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• Rhymes: -ædəl

Verb

1. (informal, intransitive) To move or run away quickly.
   • 1895 October, Stephen Crane, chapter II, in The Red Badge of Courage: An Episode of the American Civil War, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, page 29:

     "Well," continued the youth, "lots of good-a-'nough men have thought they was going to do great things before the fight, but when the time come they skedaddled."

2. (transitive, regional) To spill; to scatter.

Synonyms

• (move or run away quickly): flee, vamoose, scat, take off, make tracks, get lost, kick rocks, hightail; see also Thesaurus:move quickly, Thesaurus:rush or Thesaurus:flee

Translations

move or run away quickly

• Dutch: vluchten (nl), wegstuiven (nl), het op een lopen zetten
• Finnish: juosta karkuun
• French: déguerpir (fr)
• German: abhauen (de), türmen (de)
• Hungarian: megfutamodik (hu), elszalad (hu), elinal (hu), meglép (hu)
• Interlingua: sortir
• Italian: scappare (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: stikke av, pigge av, stikke (no)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: zwiewać, zwiać (pl)
• Portuguese: dar no pé (pt)
• Russian: дра́пать (ru) impf (drápatʹ), улепётывать (ru) impf (ulepjótyvatʹ), удира́ть (ru) impf (udirátʹ), удра́ть (ru) pf (udrátʹ), сма́тываться (ru) impf (smátyvatʹsja), смота́ться (ru) pf (smotátʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian: (reflexive (+ accusative)) razbježati (sh)
• Spanish: largarse (es), irse (es)
• Swedish: sticka (sv), pysa (sv), dra (sv), kila (sv), rusa (sv), springa (sv)

Noun

skedaddle (plural skedaddles)

1. (informal) The act of running away; a scurrying off.

See also

• Appendix:Fanciful 19th century American coinages

References

• 1897, Hunter, Robert, and Charles Morris, editors, Universal Dictionary of the English Language, v4, p4291: "Etym. doubtful; perhaps allied to scud. To betake one's self hurriedly to flight; to run away as in a panic; to fly in terror. (A word of American origin.)"
• Michael Quinion (February 7, 2004) “Skedaddle”, in World Wide Words.