v.
intr. To go suddenly and speedily; hurry. v.
tr. Upper Southern U.S. To squirt with water: "I know I wouldn't scoot down no hog with no hose"(Flannery O'Connor). Phrasal Verb(s): scoot over To move or slide to the side: Scoot that chair over.
[Scots, to eject, squirt, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse skjōta, to shoot.] scoot n. Scoot comes from a Scandinavian verb related to the verb shoot and, borrowed into Scots dialect, originally meant "to squirt with water." Two derived senses, both intransitive verbs, have become even more common: "to slide suddenly across a surface" and "to move quickly": The mouse scooted across the floor. In the American Midlands, there is a phrasal verb scoot over, meaning, in its transitive sense, "to push (someone or something) to the side to make room."
in. to run or scurry quickly from one place to another. : I scooted from the bank to the cleaners and then on to the dentist's.
n. a motorcycle. : Do you wear a brain-bucket on your scoot?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History
scoot
1758, possibly from a Scand. source (cf. O.N. skjota "to shoot") related to shoot (q.v.). Scooter, the child's vehicle, first attested 1919.