skidoo

See also: Skidoo

English

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Perhaps related to skedaddle. Attested since the early twentieth century.

Alternative forms

• skiddoo

Verb

skidoo (third-person singular simple present skidoos, present participle skidooing, simple past and past participle skidooed)

1. (informal, Canada, US, intransitive) to depart, especially to depart quickly
   • 1917, Nell Speed, Back at School with the Tucker Twins‎^[1]:

     There goes the supper gong! Annie, you and Mary had better skidoo out of this room or you'll get so many demerits you won't be out of bounds to go home in June.

2. a nonsense word, often an expression of disrespect
   • 1906, Norman McLoud, Maximilian Foster, The Hermits in Spain‎^[2]:

     Then skidoo, little girl, skidoo. / 23 is the number for you.

   • 1951, Tim Cohane, The Yale Football Story‎^[3], page 161:

     “Twenty-three skidoo!” was an all-embracing, meaningless, smart-alecky comment of the day, something in essence like one of its grandchildren, “So's your old man!”

Noun

skidoo

1. (obsolete, attributive) A light that flashes on and off to make it more eye-catching.
   • 1906, Electrical World - Volume 48, page 835:

     More than 1,000 winking or "skidoo" lamps will be hung in the vines and shrubbery on cither side of the Flirtation Path and they will wink and blink from 7 o'clock in the evening until midnight.

   • 1925, William Ballantyne Anderson, Physics for Technical Students, page 236:

     Important among the devices which utilize these differences in expansion are the automatic fire alarm, the thermostat and the mechanism for operating the "skidoo" lamp used in signs.

Etymology 2

See Skidoo.

Noun

skidoo (plural skidoos)

1. Alternative letter-case form of Skidoo (“snowmobile”)
   • 2016, Robert W. Barker, Nuclear Rogue, →ISBN:

     He couldn't have seen Peter's skidoo, but he must have seen Peter climbing up the ridgeline. He must have heard Peter's approach on the skidoo.

Derived terms

• skidooing

 

Verb

skidoo (third-person singular simple present skidoos, present participle skidooing, simple past and past participle skidooed)

1. (Canada, US) To drive or ride on a snowmobile
   • 1985, Hugh Miles, Mike Salisbury, Kingdom of the Ice Bear‎^[4], page 79:

     On several evenings, after Glen had finished his work and returned to Resolute, we skidooed out to the Parcol and sat in wait for ‘Sea Biscuit’.

   • 2014, Cassie Merko, Small Beginnings:

     Even skidooing on the farm in my younger years was not that much fun though I recall one time after a storm, I had gone skidooing and I hit some unexpected snow drifts that sent that skidoo flying into the air one minute and plummeting back down the next.

French

Alternative forms

• ski-doo, ski doo, Ski-Doo, Ski Doo, SkiDoo, Skidoo, Ski-doo, Ski doo

Etymology

Antonomasia from Ski-Doo, a brand of snowmobiles.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ski.du/

Noun

skidoo m (plural skidoos)

1. (Canada) Synonym of motoneige: a snowmobile