scarper

English

WOTD – 7 August 2025

Etymology

The verb is probably borrowed from Italian scappare (“to run away, escape, flee”), from Vulgar Latin *excappāre (“to escape”), from Latin ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’) + cappa (“(Late Latin) cape, cloak (usually with a hood); (Medieval Latin) cap; headwear”) (further etymology uncertain, probably ultimately from caput (“head”), from dialectal Proto-Indo-European *káput (“head”)) + -āre (the present active infinitive of -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)). Around World War I (1914–1918), the English word was influenced by the Cockney rhyming slang term Scapa Flow (“to go”).[1] Doublet of escape and scape.

The noun is derived from the verb.[2]

Pronunciation

Verb

scarper (third-person singular simple present scarpers, present participle scarpering, simple past and past participle scarpered) (UK, slang)

  1. (transitive, dated) Chiefly in scarper the letty: to depart quickly or run away from (a place); to flee.
    • 1934 May, Philip Allingham, chapter XVI, in Cheapjack […], London: William Heinemann, published March 1935, →OCLC, page 205:
      We were in debt with the landlady, and Joe and I had decided that none of us should be allowed to "scarper the letty," which means to sneak out of the lodgings without paying. The good lady might have to wait for her money—that was obvious—but we were stuck in Manchester until we could pay and get enough together to take us to a fresh district.
    • 1957, John Osborne, The Entertainer: A Play, Faber paper covered edition, London: Faber and Faber […], published 1961, →OCLC, Act III, number 10, pages 76–77:
      jean: We can't all spend our time nailing our suitcases to the floor, and shin out of the window. / archie: Scarper the letty.
  2. (intransitive) To depart quickly; to escape, to flee, to run away.
    • 1862, [C. Clough Robinson], “SCARPER”, in The Dialect of Leeds and Its Neighbourhood, Illustrated by Conversations and Tales of Common Life, etc. […], London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page 398:
      A horse takes fright and "scarpers," or runs away.
    • 1904, John Coleman, “Schooldays”, in Fifty Years of an Actor’s Life […], volume I, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], →OCLC, page 54:
      "Dowse the glims!" said he. Out went the lights, as he continued, "That sneak Whiskers have just blown the gaff to old Slow-Coach, and he'll be here in two two's to give you beans—so scarper, laddies—scarper!" Suiting the action to the word, he "scarpered" through the window into the garden, […]
    • 1931 January, Margery Allingham, “Mr Campion Subscribes”, in Look to the Lady (Mystery and Crime; 773), Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1950, →OCLC, page 115:
      Now then, boys, scarpa!
    • 1998, Ardal O’Hanlon, chapter 1, in The Talk of the Town, London: Sceptre, published 1999, →ISBN, page 7:
      Just then a pair of guards on the beat came into view. The tramps scarpered, the street-traders pushing prams scarpered, half of Dublin scarpered as if they all had something to hide.
    • 2007 July 22, Ned Temko, Nicholas Watt, quoting Sarah Helm, “[Tony] Blair’s aide’s wife attacks police for ‘Gestapo’ tactics”, in The Observer‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 November 2023:
      [Sarah] Helm writes: 'As if she were some street criminal, ready to scarper, Ruth [Turner]'s home was swooped upon by [Assistant Commissioner John] Yates's men and she was forced to dress in the presence of a female police officer. Then there was a tip-off to the press.'
    • 2016, Mark Colvin, “Faux Diplomacy”, in Light and Shadow: Memoirs of a Spy’s Son, Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, →ISBN, page 130:
      [John] Colvin attracted the man's attention, then stuck his arm through the barred gate and handed the startled gardener the missive from London, scarpering before the amazed man could do anything about it.
    • 2023 March 28, Graeme McGarry, “Scott McTominay earns place in history as Scotland stun Spain”, in The Herald‎[2], Glasgow, Lanarkshire: Newsquest Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 March 2023:
      Pedro Porro was a pantomime villain on the night in the eyes of both home and visiting fans – more of that later – slipping on a patch of wet turf to allow Andy Robertson to steal in and scarper to the byline.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Noun

scarper (plural scarpers)

  1. (UK, slang) Chiefly in do a scarper: an act of departing quickly or running away; an escape, a flight.
    • 1958, Frank Norman, “Part Two: Chelmsford”, in Bang to Rights: An Account of Prison Life, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, page 63:
      As a matter of fact we were all pritty flabergasted, for although we had all planned to do a scarper none of us realy thought we would have the guts to do it.
      The author’s spelling is eccentric.

Translations

References

  1. ^ “scarper, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “scarper, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “scarper, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, July 2023.

Anagrams

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