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Synonyms

take a powder

Cultural  

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

take a powder Idioms  

  1. 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

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And on that note, we have to take a powder.

From New York Times • Nov. 8, 2011

When should we be scared to take advantage of a swoon and instead take a powder and lock in the gains of the greatest bull market of all time?

From Time Magazine Archive

Somoza was of a mind to take a powder.

From Time Magazine Archive

Grinning as he displays his knowledge of underworld argot, Soustelle recalls: "I decided to take a powder."

From Time Magazine Archive

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.

From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.