take a powder
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Verb[edit]
take a powder (third-person singular simple present takes a powder, present participle taking a powder, simple past took a powder, past participle taken a powder)
- (idiomatic, US, colloquial) To leave without saying goodbye; leave quietly, run away; scram; depart without taking leave or notifying anyone, often with a connotation of avoiding something unpleasant or shirking responsibility.
- Synonym: take a walkout powder
- 1933, Raymond Chandler, “Blackmailers Don't Shoot”, in Collected Stories, Everyman's Library, published 2002, page 20:
- Macdonald spoke slowly, bitterly. "The kidnapping is one too many for me, Costello. I don't want any part of it. I'm takin' a powder from this toy mob. I took a chance that bright boy might side me."
- 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “They Found the Body in a Ditch”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 2 (1923–1928: Chicago, Chicago), page 66:
- First Mrs Hitchcock packed up and took a powder, and there was hell to pay.
- 1971, Louis-Ferdinand D. Celine, Death on the Installment Plan, page 446:
- Our idea was that once the storm had subsided we'd take a powder one night with our dough. . . We'd take our stuff and give ourselves a change of air. . . move to a different neighborhood.
- 1979, Dan McCall, Beecher: A Novel, page 162:
- "Mr. Tilton said you told him you would take a powder." "Take a powder?" said Henry. "I once heard a man from Nevada tell me he would take a powder, meaning he was leaving town."
- 2000, Barbara Weltman, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting a Home-Based Business, page 271:
- But when you suffer losses, Uncle Sam may take a powder.
- 2004, Robert Hough, Hogie Wyckoff, The Final Confession of Mabel Stark, page 418:
- Go on, now. Scram. Take a powder. And don't come back till people on the street start wishing you a good afternoon.
Translations[edit]
to run away
|