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skedaddle (ski-DAD-l) - v., to run away hurriedly, flee, scram.
Vamoose, even. There can be a connotation of a panic, but not necessarily -- a sense of hurry is almost always there, though. This is another colorful 19th century Americanism, this one dating to 1859. One suggested origin is probably an alteration of British dialect scaddle, to run off in a fright, from scaddle, wild/timid/skittish, from Middle English scathel/skadylle, harmful/fierce/wild, of Scandinavian origin akin to Old Norse skathi, harm, from whence we got a modern cognate scathe. Another suggestion, however, connects it to Scots (and N. England) skedaddle, to spill/scatter, and related word skiddle, to move away quickly.
But that's enough etymology -- time to skedaddle back to work!
---L.
Vamoose, even. There can be a connotation of a panic, but not necessarily -- a sense of hurry is almost always there, though. This is another colorful 19th century Americanism, this one dating to 1859. One suggested origin is probably an alteration of British dialect scaddle, to run off in a fright, from scaddle, wild/timid/skittish, from Middle English scathel/skadylle, harmful/fierce/wild, of Scandinavian origin akin to Old Norse skathi, harm, from whence we got a modern cognate scathe. Another suggestion, however, connects it to Scots (and N. England) skedaddle, to spill/scatter, and related word skiddle, to move away quickly.
But that's enough etymology -- time to skedaddle back to work!
---L.
