scud

/skəd/

Other forms: scudding; scudded; scuds

To scud is to quickly dart or dash, the way clouds scud across the sky on a windy day or a sailboat scuds along the surface of a lake when it finally catches a breeze.

When something scuds, it's often because the wind seems to be blowing it along — so you might watch kites scud over the beach or birds scud from tree to tree. Experts aren't positive about the origins of this word, but one guess connects it to scut, "rabbit" or "rabbit's tail." The speed of something scudding influenced NATO's code name for the Soviet Union's Cold War-era missiles, Scuds.

Definitions of scud

1. verb

   run or move very quickly or hastily
   synonyms: dart, dash, flash, scoot, shoot

   buck, charge, shoot, shoot down, tear

   move quickly and violently

   types:

   plunge

   dash violently or with great speed or impetuosity

   type of:

   belt along, bucket along, cannonball along, hasten, hie, hotfoot, pelt along, race, rush, rush along, speed, step on it

   move fast
2. verb

   run before a gale
   synonyms: rack

   type of:

   sail

   travel on water propelled by wind
3. noun

   the act of moving along swiftly (as before a gale)
   synonyms: scudding

   type of:

   hurrying, speed, speeding

   changing location rapidly