take a powder

1. To make a quick departure: “When he saw the police coming, the thief decided to take a powder.”

Idioms and Phrases

Make a speedy departure, run away, as in I looked around and he was gone—he'd taken a powder. This slangy idiom may be derived from the British dialect sense of powder as “a sudden hurry,” a usage dating from about 1600. It may also allude to the explosive quality of gunpowder.

Example Sentences

Burned: I assume that at this point you’re relieved he took a powder.

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At eight o’clock in the evening he will eat some miserable rubbish they get in exchange for their food tickets, then he will take a powder for his headache and work on.

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wants to run for president in 2020, but her hometown newspaper thinks maybe she just oughta take a powder.

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“He took a powder in the bathroom and left, and allowed Maine to decide West Virginia’s vote,” Mr. Morrisey said of his Democratic opponent.

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When his casinos went belly-up, Trump vodka took a powder, Trump steaks sat in their freezers and his investments in buildings like the Plaza Hotel failed to make money, Trump turned to the banks.

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Related Words

• avoid 
• depart 
• disappear 
• dodge 
• elude 
• emerge 
• evade 
• flee 
• fly 
• leave 
• run 
• slip 
• slip away www.thesaurus.com
• vanish