Scram

Pronunciation

• IPA: /skɹæm/
• Rhymes: -æm

Attested since 1928

“scram” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, © November 2001 Douglas Harper

, originally as U.S. slang

either:

• formed by abbreviation of scramble by apocope;

or

• from dialect German schramm, imperative singular form of schrammen ("graze").

Full definition of scram

Verb

1. Get out of here; go away (frequently imperative).If you don't scram, I'll leave instead!

Synonyms

Back-formation from SCRAM; most etymologies are backronyms.

Verb

1. (ambitransitive) To abruptly insert the control rods of a nuclear reactor, usually in case of emergency shutdown.
• 1983, Michio Kaku & Jennifer Trainer (eds.), Nuclear Power: Both Sides, p. 22,The slightest problem in a reactor will cause the control rods to plunge automatically in the uranium core at hih speeds (this is called scramming the reactor) and stop the chain reaction.
• 1999, Charles Perrow, Normal Accidents: Living with High-risk Technologies, p. 44,This shut off current to the control rod mechanism, and the reactor scrammed (shut off) automatically.
• 2000, Ralph R. Fullwood, Probabilistic Safety Assessment in the Chemical and Nuclear Industries, Elsevier, page 218Both active and manual methods scram by tripping power to a dedicated pump that unbalances the flows to the passively scram the reactor.
• 2007, Samuel Upton Newtan, Nuclear War I and Other Major Nuclear Disasters of the 20th Century, p. 113,The reactor was then "scramed", but the control rods did not slide back into the reactor.

Noun

1. A rapid shutdown of a nuclear reactor
2. Alternative spelling of SCRAM

Etymology unknown.

Verb

1. (Wales) Scratch with claws or fingernails.
• 1996–2014, “A Dictionary of Slang”, archived on 30 August 2013, accessed on 19 March 2014:Verb. ... 2. To scratch, with claws or fingernails. E.g. "It's my own fault the cat scrammed me, I was teasing it." Wales use
• 19 December 2013, Abby Bolter, Firefighters rescue woman trapped in Bridgend flat following an alleged arson attack, A woman has praised firefighters and her cat for saving her life following an alleged arson attack. Two-and-a-half-year-old tortoiseshell Taffy repeatedly bit owner Tracie Horgan-Hodgkiss on the hand until she woke up when her flat filled with acrid smoke in the early hours of this morning. ... "I’d like to say thank you very much to the firefighters for coming to rescue me. And I am sorry that Taffy scrammed one of them!" (Also reported as 2013 December 21, “Cat wakes woman as flat fills with smoke”", The Daily Telegraph, p. 17.)

Noun

1. (Wales) A scratch, especially caused by claws or fingernails.
• 1996–2014, “A Dictionary of Slang”, archived on 30 August 2013, accessed on 19 March 2014:Noun. ... 2. A scratch. Wales use

Anagrams

• crams
• marcs