scarper

Meaning

Verb

• To run away; to flee; to escape.

Origin

• Probably from Italian scappare, influenced by Cockney rhyming slang Scapa Flow = go.
• In the chapter "Punch Talk" of 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, Vol 3, the author discusses the slang language used by travelling Italian Punch and Judy men and entertainers, which had English, Italian, Jewish and traveller roots. He states that "scarper" is Punch Talk for "to get away quickly" (from the police or other authority) and derives from the Italian scappare or escappare (compare English escape).
• An alternative etymology traces the word "scarper" to the Cockney rhyming slang Scapa Flow (as in, e.g., "go away").