skedaddler

[ ski-dad-ler ]

nounInformal.

a person or thing that skedaddles.
Canadian. a U.S. citizen who fled to Canada rather than serve in the armed forces during the American Civil War.

Origin of skedaddler

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; skedaddle + -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

L, and some fifty thousand other skedaddlers ran off to Canada when the war broke out, for fear they might be drafted.
What Is Free Trade? | Frdrick Bastiat
The boys remarked that we had come here for the express purpose of preparing hemp for the “skedaddlers.”
Our Battery | Orlando P. Cutter
In the dubious state of public feeling at that time, the people of the county did not say much, directly, about the skedaddlers.
When Life Was Young | C. A. Stephens
When he heard of the "skedaddlers" and their fort, he expressed the greatest indignation and contempt for them.
When Life Was Young | C. A. Stephens
The result showed that the young soldier's estimate of the valor of the skedaddlers was a perfectly correct one.
When Life Was Young | C. A. Stephens

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