▪ I. scoot, n.1 Sc.
(skuːt)
Also scout.
[f. scoot v.1]
(See quots.)
| 1825 Jamieson, Suppl., Scout, a syringe. 1880 Jamieson's Dict., Scoot, 1. A gush or flow of water; also, the pipe or opening from which it flows. Clydes. 1887 Service Dr. Duguid iii. iv. 259 Stottin' up the gate like a haw from a callan's gulshock scoot. |
▪ II. scoot, n.2 dial. or slang.
(skuːt)
[f. scoot v.1]
1. The action or an act of ‘scooting’.
| 1864 Morning Star 2 Feb., House-rent, too, as it elegantly expresses it, is on the ‘same scoot upwards’. 1884 F. R. Stockton Lady or Tiger? 95 Ev'ry dog an' man an' nigger made one skoot fur that tree. |
2. A bout of drunkenness, a drunken spree; chiefly in phr. on the scoot. Austral. and N.Z. colloq.
| 1924 Truth (Sydney) 27 Apr. 6 Scoot, to clear out; also continued bout of drunkenness. 1936 I. L. Idriess Cattle King xiv. 131 ‘He's a man who likes his meat raw, he chews his glass when he empties it.’ ‘I'm sorry to hear Eureka is on the scoot.’ ‘He's not. They don't go on the scoot out there. They drink dynamite and bust.’ 1959 G. Slatter Gun in Hand iii. 42, I suppose you left the wife up there [on the farm] and you're down on the scoot. 1962 S. Gore Down Golden Mile vi. 120 Make mine a glass this time, seein' I have to go on the scoot with you booze artists to-night. 1975 X. Herbert Poor Fellow My Country 1019 We could've..gone on a proper scoot. |
▪ III. scoot, n.3 slang.
(skuːt)
[Abbrev. of scooter n.]
A motor-cycle or motor-car (see also quot. 1943).
| 1943 Amer. Speech XVIII. 169/1 Scoot, shuttletrain. 1968–70 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) III–IV. 105 Scoot, n. A motorcycle, the type often used by the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club. 1977 Custom Car Nov. 64/1 For this season he's gone over to a radical Volvo-engined scoot. |
▪ IV. scoot, v.1
(skuːt)
Also 9 skute, skewt, 8–9 scout.
[In sense 1, which is purely Sc., the word prob. represents a ME. *skūte, of Scandinavian origin, cogn. w. ON. *skióta to shoot. The identity of the word in senses 2 and 3 is not quite certain.]
1. Sc. a. trans. ‘To eject, jerk, or squirt’ (Jamieson, 1880).
| 1805 J. Nicol Poems I. 155 (Jam.) An' gut an' ga' he scoutit. 1897 C. Grey Misanthrope's Heir xv, Naebody kent he was there till he scootit the water on Maister Ogilvy. |
b. intr. (See quot.)
| 1880 Jamieson's Dict. s.v., To scoot,..to flow or gush out with force. Clydes. |
2. Sc. and U.S. To slide suddenly, as on slippery ground.
| 1838 J. C. Neal Charcoal Sk., ‘Pair of Slippers’ (Farmer), Notwithstanding his convulsive efforts to clutch the icy bricks he skuted into the gutter. 1851 H. Melville Whale III. xii. 79 The enormous casks..scoot across the slippery decks, like so many land slides. |
3. slang or colloq. a. To go suddenly and swiftly, to dart; to go away hurriedly. Often with advs.
The (? originally nautical) slang word, written scout and prob. pronounced (skaʊt), seems to have become obsolete early in the 19th c. The modern scoot was app. imported into general British use from the U.S.
| 1758 Capt. Tyrrell Let. 9 Nov. in Ann. Reg. II. (1759) 61 The largest frigate being troublesome, I gave him a few of my lower deck pills and sate [= set] him a scouting like a lusty fellow, and he never returned to the action again. 1780 Capt. Young Let. 3 June in Barham Papers (MS.), They had rigged out the fore topmast studding-sail booms to scout for it. 1805 J. Nicol Poems II. 103 (Jam.) Wi' arm raxt out, awa' she scouted. 1810 Splendid Follies II. 28 Sponge was actually obliged to scout out of the room to conceal his risible muscles. 1847 Lowell Biglow Papers Ser. i. ii, An' th' Cunnles, tu, could..send the insines skootin' to the bar-room with their banners. 1856 Knickerbocker Mag. Mar. (Bartlett 1860), When he goes skewtin about, buying goods in business hours. 1882 B. Harte Flip ii, Yer had better drop that axe and scoot round getting the stranger some breakfast. 1892 Sat. Rev. 27 Feb. 244/1 He scoots off like a rabbit in the opposite direction. 1897 Olive Schreiner Peter Halket 66 A nigger man met them twenty miles off, and he said they were skooting up for Lo-Magundi's country as fast as they could go. 1904 J. Sweeney At Scotl. Yard xiii. 339 Forster always got wind of the warrant's being drawn out and..conveniently scooted. |
b. trans. To move or convey suddenly or swiftly.
| 1905 Automobile Topics 27 May 462 Basle's engine had all the power necessary to scoot him up the hill on his fourth speed. 1947 J. Steinbeck Wayward Bus ii. 22 Juan put his little platform behind the bus and he lay on it on his back and scooted himself under with his feet. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 5 Feb. 22/1 Larush scooted his charge to the front from the outset to reach the quarter pole in a swift 0:30 2–5. 1975 N. Freeling What are Bugles blowing For? vi. 35 She scooted her wheelchair across the room. |
▪ V. scoot, v.2
(skuːt)
Colloq. abbrev. scooter v.
| 1951 N. Mitford Blessing i. vii. 72 The happy crowd of scooting, skating children in the Tuileries gardens. 1962 A. Huxley Island ix. 140 ‘Scooters are going to become a major political issue.’ Vijaya laughed. ‘To scoot or not to scoot, that is the question.’..‘Wherever I've been..they've opted wholeheartedly for scooting.’ |
▪ VI. scoot
variant of scout.