Home US English scram

Definition of scram in English:

scram

Pronunciation /skram/ /skræm/

See synonyms for scram

Translate scram into Spanish

verbscrams, scramming, scrammed

informal

  • 1no object, usually in imperative Leave or go away from a place quickly.

    • ‘get out of here, you miserable wretches—scram!’
    go away, depart, leave, take yourself off, take off, get out, get out of my sight
    View synonyms

  • 2with object Shut down (a nuclear reactor) in an emergency.

    • ‘when the power is cut off, the unit will automatically scram the reactor’

  • 3no object (of a nuclear reactor) shut down in an emergency.

    • ‘the reactor scrammed unexpectedly after an electrical malfunction’

noun

informal

  • An emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor.

    • ‘the power plant was cited for its high rate of scrams over the past year’
    • ‘Both the number of safety-system activations and scrams are about one tenth of what they were in 1985.’

Origin

Early 20th century probably from the verb scramble.