skedaddle, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

skedaddle v.

also skaddle, skedoo, skeddaddle, skeedaddle, skidaddle, skidoodle

[orig. US milit. jargon skedaddle, to flee the battlefield, to retreat quickly; thence ‘civilian’ uses. Webster (1867) suggests Scand. roots, but OED and other authorities reject this. The term may have existed in Eng. dial./Scot. (meaning to scatter, to spill, as of a pail of milk, a bucket of potatoes) slightly earlier than its US use, but that seems merely coincident. Hotten (1864) adds a ref. to ‘very fair Greek, the root being that of “skedannumi” to disperse, to “retire tumultuously” ... it was probably set afloat by some professor at Harvard’. A number of other commentators – incl. Cohen in Studies in Slang (1985), Wentworth & Flexner and Bartlett – agree. Other theories include a link to the Irish scegadol, scattered, which has been disproved, but there may still be one to a variety of other Gaelic words, e.g. scead, fright, sgadarlach, anything scattered or dispersed, scaoll, fright, panic. Liberman (2008 186b) adds skaddle, to frighten. Cohen, in an extensive analysis (Cohen, 1985, pp.29–63), suggests Scot. skiddle, to scatter + ? comb. jabble, to scatter. Thus the earlier use must be accepted and the Scot./northern ‘spill/scatter’ transfers to the US ‘flee’ through the image of blood and corpses being thus ‘spilled and scattered’ on the battlefield before the flight of a demoralized army]

(orig. US) of people, to rush off, to scamper, to escape; also as excl.

1860		Agitator (Wellsboro, PA) 12 Jan. 1: You’d oughter seen that gang skedaddle.
1861		N.-Y. Trib. 10 Aug. 5/5: No sooner did the traitors discover their approach than they ‘skidaddled’, (a phrase the Union boys up here apply to the good use the seceshers make of their legs in time of danger).
1862		Dundee Courier 26 Nov. 4/2: The Greeks are at present rubbing their hands at the thought that, by the ‘skedaddling’ of Otho, ‘there is only one Bavarian the less’ .
1871		Hamilton Spectator (Vic.) 7 Jan. 1/7: But if he [i.e. a father] won't ‘prove game,’ and ‘fork out,’ then I am afraid ‘it’s no go,’ and he [i.e. an indebted son] must ‘skedaddle’.
1872		S. Hale letter 9 Nov. in Atkinson Letters of Susan Hale (1919) 91: If I were alone, I should float on till a week from Tuesday and then skedaddle (I think you have this word, do you not?).
1875		‘Aliph Cheem’ Lays of Ind (1905) 45: Jerkily looking behind, / As if to skedaddle occurred to his mind.
1880		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 31 Jan. 3/3: [headline] ‘The’ Allen Raided / Lively Skedaddling and Humorous Incidents.
1884		J. Harrison ‘Negro English’ in Anglia VII 273: To skaddle off ~ to ‘scatter’ off, run away.
1885		‘’Arry on the Elections’ in Punch 12 Dec. 277/2: So I drew the line sharp, and skedaddled.
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 22 Jan. 2: I soon spilt out and skedaddled to make myself presentable.
1891		Dead Bird (Sydney) 24 Jan. 5/1: He’d skedaddled round the bars upon the loose.
1895		S. Crane Red Badge of Courage (1964) 30: I’m not going to skedaddle.
1904		‘Dryblower’ ‘His Quest’ in Sun. Times (Perth) 3 Apr. 4/7: A bloke wot boarded with us has skedaddled with my wife.
1905		‘Hugh McHugh’ Get Next 30: The young man arose, put on his gum shoes, and skedaddled out of the house.
1908		D. Stewart Wild Tribes of London in Illus. Police News 15 Feb. 12/2: We’ll clear out [...] share all round and skeedaddle.
1910		D. Stewart Devil of Dartmoor in Illus. Police News 29 Oct. 12/1: ‘I and the cove were skedaddling along like a couple of terriers’.
1911		L. Pound ‘A Second Word-List From Nebraska’ in DN III:vii 547: skidoodle, v. Variant of skedaddle. ‘He skidoodled out of the room.’.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Aug. 15/1: The red moon scorched across the sky. Jack Considine an’ me / Skeddadled out across the plain as slick as slick could be.
1914		‘Hugh McHugh’ You Should Worry cap. 8: The young man arose, put on his gum shoes, and skeedaddled out of the house.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 155: Wheels within wheels. Police whistle in my ears still. All skedaddled.
1926		Z. Grey Fighting Caravans (1992) 208: You bet we grabbed our guns an’ skedaddled out pronto.
1934		O. Strange Sudden 230: Come ahead, fellas [...] They’ve skedaddled.
1940		(con. 1820s) W.E. Wilson Wabash 224: The squirrels got into my pappy’s corn patch [...] afore he could shift his chaw to his other cheek an’ say ‘Skedaddle!’.
1942		E. Cross Tailor and Ansty 64: He fulfilled his part of the bargain and then skedooed off.
1949		(con. 1943–5) A. Murphy To Hell and Back (1950) 187: He says the Germans have all skeedaddled.
1950		C. Harris Three-Ha’Pence to the Angel 100: Take it all for granted, and then skidaddle out the way.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 63: The kids began to chase after the coins and their seconds spread towels out. The mob began to laugh then at the kids skedaddling after the dough.
1953		J. Thompson Alcoholics (1993) 93: Now you skedaddle on out o’ here.
1966		B. Reckord Skyvers I ii: The rest skidaddled the minute they touched fifteen.
1968		D. O’Grady A Bottle of Sandwiches 93: We skedaddled about eight o’clock.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 20: You think he’s skedaddled with the Carmichael girl?
1986		P. O’Farrell Tell me, Sean O’Farrell 21: The lads downed their drinks like they were their last and began to skedaddle.
1991		Dandy Comic Library No. 205 27: Quick! Skedaddle!
1999		R.G. Barrett Wind & Monkey (2013) [ebook] ‘Why don’t you get changed and we’ll skedaddle’.
2004		T. Winton ‘Reunion’ in Turning (2005) 214: What did you see in that house that made you skedaddle?
2009		(con. 1960s) J. Ellroy Blood’s a Rover 26: The Mutant skeddadled to apartment 311.
2010		J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 29: Charlotte gave me a withering look and skedaddled.
2014		M. McBride Swollen Red Sun 63: ‘Go on numbnuts. Skedaddle’.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 19: The guy served us and skedaddled.
2021		L. McInerney Rules of Revelation 14: ‘Cusack saw his chance and skedaddled, is all’.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 224: ‘I must skidoodle before your cat becomes too hungry’.