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 1862. New York Tribune. 27 May, 'War Correspondence.' Rebel skedaddling is the next thing on the programme.

1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., 292. Lord Hill wrote [to The Times] to prove that it was excellent Scotch. The Americans only misapply the word in Dumfries—'to spill'—milkmaids saying, 'You are skedaddling all that milk.'

1874. Baker, Ismailia, 211. Their noisy drums had ceased, and suddenly I perceived a general skedaddle.

1877. Atlantic Monthly, xl. 234. We used to live in Lancashire and heard skedaddle every day of our lives. It means to scatter, or drop in a scattering way.

1880. Mortimer Collins, Thoughts in my Garden, i. 50. The burghers skedaddled, and the Squire, thanks to his faint-hearted butler, had no chance of using his cavalry sword.

1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 17 Oct., 2, 1. One fine day it happens that two Irish leaders skedaddle in a trawler to the Continent.

1898. Gould, Landed at Last, vii. They pays regular. There's no midnight skedaddling about them.

1901. Walker, In the Blood, 261. 'E's a "goner," buried in a fall of earth, blown up, killed, skedaddled out o' this camp.

1902. Headon Hill, Caged, xxxiv. And the bars, are they cut ready for a skedaddle.

Skeer, verb. (American).—To scare. Hence skeery (skary, scary) = (1) dreadful; (2) frightened, nervous.

1582. Stanihurst, Æneid, iv. 438. But toe thee, poore Dido, this sight so skearye beholding.

1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. iv. Ye wasn't skeered, nor nothin', was ye, tho'.

1841. The Kinsmen, I. 150. 'Don't you be scarey,' said he.

1848. Robb, Squatter Life [Bartlett]. I got a little scary and a good deal mad.

1852. Haliburton, Traits of Amer. Humour, I. 222. He's the scariest horse you ever saw.

1869. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, lix. The horses were a little skeary.

1880. Scribner's Mag., Jan., 332. I seen they was mighty skeered.

1885. Hawley Smart, Struck Down, xi. Women get skeary, and desperate afraid of being compromised.

d. 1892. Whittier, Poems [Century]. I'm scary always to see her shake Her wicked hand.

Skeesicks, subs. (American).—A good-for-nothing; also like 'dog,' 'rogue,' 'rascal,' in playful address.—Bartlett. [Leland (S. J. & C): 'I take it rather to mean a fidgetty, fussy, little fellow.']

1858. Evening Star (Washington), Nov. "Oh, he be d—d!" replied the fellow: " he's the little skeezicks that told me to call for Long." This brought down the house.

1870. Bret Harte, Miggles [Century]. Thar ain't nobody but him within ten miles of the shanty, and that ar' old Skeesicks knows it.

Skeet, verb. (old).—A variant of scoot (q.v.); to run, or decamp. As adj. and adv. (old literary) = swift, fleet.

c. 1360. Allit. Poems [Morris], iii. 195. Thenne ascryed thay him skete.

c. 1400. Tale of Gamelyn, 185. A steede ther sadeled smertely and skeet.

c. 1430. Destr. of Troy [E. E. T. S.], 13434. This Askathes, the skathill, had sket sons thre.

1848. Burton, Waggeries, 17. The critter skeeted over the side of the ship into the water.

Skeeter, subs. (American).—A mosquito.

1852. Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, xx. Law, Miss Feely whip!—[she] wouldn't kill a skeeter.

Skelder, subs. (old).—A rogue; a sponge (q.v.): as verb. = to cheat; to play the sponge: cf. Skellum. Hence skeldering = swindling; sponging.