Our Living Language The verb scoot, meaning "to squirt with water," arose in the American Midlands. Two derived senses, both intransitive verbs, have become more widely known: "to slide suddenly across a surface" and "to move quickly": The mouse scooted across the floor. The phrasal verb scoot over, meaning, in its transitive sense, "to push (someone or something) to the side to make room," also arose in the Midlands but has spread throughout much of the country.