skedaddle

American  

[ski-dad-l] / skɪˈdæd l /

verb (used without object)

skedaddled, skedaddling

1. to run away hurriedly; flee.

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noun

1. a hasty flight.

skedaddle British  

/ skɪˈdædəl /

verb

1. (intr) to run off hastily

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noun

1. a hasty retreat

Etymology

Origin of skedaddle

1860–65, compare dial. ( Scots, N England) skedaddle to spill, scatter, skiddle to move away quickly

Explanation

When you skedaddle, you leave very suddenly. A kid who breaks a window with her baseball might decide to skedaddle before her neighbor comes home from work. You might decide to skedaddle from your aunt's party before she starts showing the slides from her vacation ten years ago, or skedaddle from the town swimming pool when it starts to rain. In either case, you're getting out of there, and fast. Skedaddle is American Civil War military slang, dating from about 1861 — experts aren't sure what its roots are.

Example Sentences

But even the vague threat of personal conflict and humiliation was enough to make him skedaddle down to Mar-a-Lago when it was time to go.

From Salon • Aug. 16, 2023

“The session adjourns and members skedaddle out of there rapidly so it’s hard for journalists to get to them, unlike when they’re on the floor they can immediately get to them.”

From Seattle Times • Feb. 17, 2022

He told the cars to skedaddle, which they were already going to do because their protest was about to start.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 26, 2020

But we can hear MGM’s “ultra pool” before we even lay eyes on it, and we turn on our heels and skedaddle back down the Strip to our hotel.

From New York Times • Sep. 4, 2018

Dad steered the Blue Goose through the dark, driving slowly so as not to alert anyone in the trailer park that we were, as Dad liked to put it, doing the skedaddle.

From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls