skedaddle
pronunciation
How to pronounce skedaddle in British English:
UK [skɪˈdædl]
How to pronounce skedaddle in American English:
US [skɪ'dædl]
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- Verb:
- run away, as if in a panic
Word Origin
- skedaddle (v.)
- "to run away," 1861, American Civil War military slang, of unknown origin, perhaps connected to earlier use in northern England dialect with a meaning "to spill." Liberman says it "has no connection with any word of Greek, Irish, or Swedish, and it is not a blend" [contra De Vere]. He calls it instead an "enlargement of dial. scaddle 'scare, frighten.'" Related: Skedaddled; skedaddling. As a noun from 1870.
Example
- 1. Why don 't you just skedaddle ?
- 2. So skedaddle back to where you came from .
- 3. The naughty children skedaddle when the security guard approach them .
- 4. So I 'm gonna skedaddle then before anything else happens to me .
- 5. There ll be just one brief skirmish and the yankees will skedaddle back into tennessee .