Scoot
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A sideways shuffling or sliding motion.
"Instinctively, he lifted the chair a fraction, and gave it a little scoot away from her."
- 2 A scooter. slang
"When you meet with your club, park in front of the café or bar so the world can see your scoots."
- 3 A sudden flow of water; a squirt. Scotland
- 4 A dollar. slang
- 1 To walk or travel fast; to go quickly. intransitive
- 2 To ride on a scooter. intransitive
- 3 To squirt. Scotland, transitive
- 4 run or move very quickly or hastily wordnet
- 5 To run away hastily; scram. intransitive
"You'd better scoot before my mother gets home and sees that broken window!"
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 To move with the forelegs while sitting, so that the floor rubs against its rear end.
"The dog was scooting all over our new carpet."
- 7 To move sideways (especially along a seat for multiple people), usually to make room for someone else (to sit, stand, etc.). intransitive, often
"Do you mind scooting a bit to the left?"
- 8 To dispatch someone or something at speed; Synonym of shoo. transitive
"He scooted us out of the study and turned off the light […]"
- 1 Initialism of Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique: a system for the coordination and control of traffic signals across an urban road network. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Example
More examples"Excuse me, but could you scoot over a little bit, please?"
Etymology
Of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old Norse skjóta (“to shoot”), or perhaps related to Middle English scottlynge (“moving one's feet quickly, scampering”, literally “scuttling”), see scuddle, scuttle.
Clipping of scooter.
Variant of shoot.
Related phrases
More for "scoot"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.