twenty-three skidoo a hasty departure. North American informal, dated

☞ The expression is said to have been used originally in relation to male onlookers chased by police from the Flatiron Building, 23rd Street, New York City, where the skirts of female passers-by were raised by winds intensified by the building's design. The word skidoo itself, originally a verb meaning 'leave hastily', may be a variant of skedaddle.