scram

¹ American  

[skram] / skræm /

verb (used without object)

Informal.

scrammed, scramming

1. to go away; get out (usually used as a command).

   I said I was busy, so scram.

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scram ² American  

[skram] / skræm /

noun

1. the rapid shutdown of a nuclear reactor in an emergency.

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verb (used with object)

1. to shut down (a nuclear reactor) rapidly in an emergency.

scram ¹ British  

/ skræm /

noun

1. an emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor

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verb

1. (of a nuclear reactor) to shut down or be shut down in an emergency

scram ² British  

/ skræm /

verb

1. informal (intr; often imperative) to go away hastily; get out

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Etymology

Origin of scram¹

1925–30; probably shortened form of scramble (but compare German schramm, imperative singular of schrammen to depart)

Origin of scram²

1945–50; perhaps identical with scram ¹, though sense development is unclear

Example Sentences

If a cop tells you to scram, “You can say, ‘It is my understanding I have every right to record this.

From Seattle Times • May 21, 2021

Ferraro walked the same tightrope that tripped up Hillary Clinton when she wondered if she should wheel around in that debate and tell the creeping Donald Trump to scram.

From New York Times • Aug. 8, 2020

The future D.C. mayor was 16 years younger than Rutherford, who remembers her father, Joe, ordering him and his friends to scram when they played ball in a nearby field.

From Washington Post • Jul. 28, 2015

Then you press the start button and scram.

From Slate • Feb. 12, 2014

In the control room for reactors 1 and 2, even as the room pitched and swayed, the operators moved quickly to monitor an emergency procedure known as a scram.

From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland