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scoot

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scoot

[skoot] Informal.
–verb (used without object)
1. to go swiftly or hastily; dart.
–verb (used with object)
2. to send or impel at high speed.
–noun
3. a swift, darting movement or course.

Origin:
1750–60; prob. < ON skota to push or skjōta to shoot 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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scoot   (skōōt)   
v.   scoot·ed, scoot·ing, scoots

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."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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