different between scarper vs scalper

English

Etymology

Probably from Italian scappare (“to run away”), influenced by Cockney rhyming slang Scapa Flow = go.

• In the chapter "Punch Talk" of 1851, Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, Vol 3, the author discusses the slang language used by travelling Italian Punch and Judy men and entertainers, which had English, Italian, Jewish and traveller roots. He states that "scarper" is Punch Talk for "to get away quickly" (from the police or other authority) and derives from the Italian scappare or escappare (compare English escape).

• An alternative etymology traces the word "scarper" to the Cockney rhyming slang Scapa Flow (“go”) (as in, e.g., "go away").

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?sk??(?).p?(?)/
• Rhymes: -??(r)p?(r)

Verb

scarper (third-person singular simple present scarpers, present participle scarpering, simple past and past participle scarpered)

1. (Britain, slang) To run away; to flee; to escape.
   • 1904, John Coleman, Fifty years of an actors? life, Volume 1, page 54,

     Out went the lights, as he continued, "That sneak Whiskers have just blown the gaff to old Slow-Coach, and he'll be here in two two's to give you beans — so scarper, laddies — scarper!"

   • 2001, Ardal O'Hanlon, Knick Knack Paddy Whack, page 7,

     The tramps scarpered, the street-traders pushing prams scarpered, half of Dublin scarpered as if they all had something to hide.

   • 2007, The Guardian, [1]

     Helm writes: 'As if she were some street criminal, ready to scarper, Ruth's home was swooped upon by [Assistant Commissioner John] Yates's men and she was forced to dress in the presence of a female police officer.

Translations

Anagrams

• Carpers, carpers, scraper

English

Etymology

scalp +? -er

Noun

scalper (plural scalpers)

1. One who scalps, or removes the scalp of another.
   • 2013, M. Elise Marubbio, Eric L. Buffalohead, Native Americans on Film: Conversations, Teaching, and Theory

     Denouncing representations of hostile Indians as vicious scalpers of innocent settlers […]

2. (US, Canada) One who scalps tickets to popular entertainment events: buying them in advance and then selling them (e.g. online or just outside the venue of the event), often at inflated prices.

   Synonym: (UK) ticket tout

3. (gambling) A gambler who scalps.
   • 1961, John Scarne, Complete Guide to Gambling (page 102)

     The only sure thing about scalping the Series today is that the scalper is paying the bookie a greater profit because he is making a greater number of bets.

4. (finance) A person on an open outcry exchange trading floor who buys and sells rapidly for his or her own account, aiming to buy from a seller and a little later sell to a buyer, making a small profit from the difference (roughly the amount of the bid/offer spread, or less).
5. A machine for removing the ends of grain, such as wheat or rye, or for separating the different grades of broken wheat, semolina, etc.
6. A surgical instrument for scraping carious bones.

   Synonym: scalping-iron

Translations

Anagrams

• carpels, clasper, craples, parcels, placers, reclasp

French

Etymology

From English scalp +? -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skal.pe/

Verb

scalper

1. (transitive) to scalp

Conjugation

Further reading

• “scalper” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).