scoot

(sko͞ot)

verb scoot·ed, scoot·ing, scoots verb, intransitive verb, transitivePhrasal Verb: scoot over To move or slide to the side: Scoot that chair over.

Related Forms:

• scoot scoot noun

Regional Note: Scoot comes from a Scandinavian verb related to the verb shoot and, borrowed into Scots dialect, originally meant “to squirt with water.” Two derived senses, both intransitive verbs, have become even more common: “to slide suddenly across a surface” and “to move quickly”: The mouse scooted across the floor. In the American Midlands, there is a phrasal verb scoot over, meaning, in its transitive sense, “to push (someone or something) to the side to make room.”