- scuttle
- scuttle{vb Scuttle, scurry, scamper, skedaddle, sprint are comparable when they mean to move briskly by or as if by running. Scuttle, scurry, and scamper all imply a rapid erratic progress of or as if of a small active animal but each may carry quite distinctive suggestions.Scuttle tends to suggest an irregular, precipitous, and seemingly awkward gait (as of a spider or crab) in which speed often appears to be attained with effort landladies scuttling sideways like crabs in their crustacean silk gowns— Sitwell}{
a flock of sparrows scuttled like brown leaves over the pavement— Glasgow
}{a little motorcar so small that it scuttled up the road, shot around, and stopped . . . with the abruptness of a wound-up toy— Wolfe
}Scurry more often conveys the impression of a neat briskness (as of a mouse or squirrel) and often of abrupt changes in direction or speed{sent him scurrying down a zigzag, crisscross, confused trail— Hervey
}{[the squirrel] changed his mind. For no apparent reason he whisked about, scurried across the ground to the big elm, ran straight up the tall trunk, and disappeared—C. G. D. Roberts
}{his still restless and curious intelligence went scurrying back through the past, savoring the quality of his experience, sniffing at souvenirs of his fights and his triumphs— James Gray
}Scamper suggests nimbleness in movement and typically applies to playful gamboling (as of children or young animals){tiny chipmunks no bigger than half-grown rats scampered fearlessly about— S. E. White
}{lambs scampering after their mothers
}but it may stress urgency and then imply such motives as fear or need of shelter{he could let his harried mind and spirit scamper in thought to this quiet male refuge and there find solace— Ferber
}{the resulting roar . . . sent several persons under the marquee scampering into the store for safety— N. Y. Times
}Skedaddle typically applies to human movement and distinctively implies a hasty departing for cause, sometimes even a panic flight{the children around our place all own hideouts where they skedaddle whenever that old ogre, Work, rears his ugly head— Perkins
}{the claim's played out, the partnership's played out, and the sooner we skedaddle out of this the better— Harte
}Sprint implies movement at top speed and typically suggests an output of energy that can only briefly be maintained; it is particularly appropriate when the notion to be conveyed is one of an urgent effort of speed to attain an immediate end{the commuter has no time to read the editorials as he sprints alternately from train to ferry and from ferry to train— Amer. Guide Series: N. J.
}{hoping to get a shot at a rabbit sprinting back to cover from far out in the field— T. H. White
}{the . . . Brens at once began to blaze away and under their cover the rest of the patrol sprinted back about fifty yards— Majdalany
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
