scramming

Verb (1)

scram (third-person singular simple present scrams, present participle scramming, simple past and past participle scrammed)

1. (imperative, intransitive, often) To leave in a hurry; to go away.
   • What are you kids doing on my lawn? Scram!

Verb (2)

scram (third-person singular simple present scrams, present participle scraming or scramming, simple past and past participle scramed or scrammed)

1. (transitive) To shut down (a nuclear reactor or, by extension, some other thing) for safety reasons, usually because of an emergency.
   • The NCR [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] further demands the plant conform to all the safety requirements put into effect during construction. This means constant re-design. There must also be several ways to scram (emergency shut down) the reactor. Some of these are automatic and some are manual.1976 December, Randy Warsaw, “Fermi II – A Plant Tour”, in Ray Barry, editor, The Michigan Technic, volume XCV, number 3, [Ann Arbor, Mich.]: College of Engineering, University of Michigan, →ISSN...
2. (intransitive) Of a nuclear reactor or some other thing: to shut down, usually because of an emergency.
   • This shut off current to the control rod mechanism, and the reactor scrammed (shut off) automatically.1984, Charles Perrow, “Nuclear Power as a High-risk System”, in Normal Accidents: Living with High-risk Technologies, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, published 1999, →ISBN, page 44

Verb (3)

scram (third-person singular simple present scrams, present participle scramming, simple past and past participle scrammed)

1. (Derbyshire, Wales, transitive) To scratch (something) with claws or fingernails; to claw.
   • scram [...] Verb. [...] 2. To scratch, with claws or fingernails. E.g. "It's my own fault the cat scrammed me, I was teasing it." [South Wales use][1996–2020, Ted Duckworth, “scram”, in A Dictionary of Slang, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2013
2. (US, archaic, transitive) To mine for ore on a small scale, especially from mines previously been worked on where most of the ore is believed to have been removed.
   • Just west of this pit is another one, which has been nearly worked out; but three men are scramming about five tons per day in it.1880, “Marquette Iron District”, in Annual Report of the Commissioner of Mineral Statistics of the State of Michigan, for 1879, Lansing, Mich.: W. S. George & Co., […], →OCLC, page 167

Verb (4)

scram (third-person singular simple present scrams, present participle scramming, simple past and past participle scrammed)

1. (UK, archaic, dialectal, intransitive) Of one's body or limbs: to become numb or stiff due to cold, lack of movement, etc.
   • The bean-setters can fully appreciate the nipping, biting keenness of the air, and avow frankly, in their own peculiar idiom, "that they be pretty nigh scrammed!"1857, Frances Freeling Broderip, “Murder Will Out. An ‘Owre True Tale.’”, in Way-side Fancies, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, part 2, page 13

See all 12 meanings of scram