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# skedaddle

«skedaddle» in Mova's school dictionary: **to run away quickly, often because you are frightened or…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

verb (skedaddle, skedaddles, skedaddled, skedaddling)

### meaning for a pupil

1) (informal, playful) To skedaddle is to run away quickly, often because you are frightened or caught. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skedaddle/#m1)

2) (informal) To leave a place in a hurry. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skedaddle/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

A funny, lively word used in stories and in family talk: «Now skedaddle, all of you!» It tells the reader the escape is fast and a little comic. It came into English in the USA in the 1860s and is used in the UK, Australia and elsewhere too.

### examples

- When the farmer shouted, the boys skedaddled over the fence. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skedaddle/#x1)
- «Skedaddle! Your dinner's getting cold,» said Mum. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skedaddle/#x2)
- The mice skedaddled when the cat came in. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skedaddle/#x3)
- We'd better skedaddle before the rain starts. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skedaddle/#x4)
- The weasels skedaddled when Badger burst into the hall. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skedaddle/#x5)
- The thief skedaddled with the cake. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skedaddle/#x6)

### note

Regular verb: skedaddled, skedaddling. Informal; not for formal essays — there use «flee» or «run away». Spelling: double d.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «skedaddle» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skedaddle/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.