scram

1. (MLE, slang) A gun, firearm.Examples: "Bad be say she don’t usually do this In the trap with a stick, I do this Get ’round there with a scram I don’t give a damn"; "My manager says I'm stupid for still rollin' with a scram I hate explainin' myself and I don't think he'll understand"Multicultural-London-Englishslang

1. (transitive) To shut down (a nuclear reactor or, by extension, some other thing) for safety reasons, usually because of an emergency.Examples: "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."; "Startup of reactor recirculating pump resulted in flux spike scraming plant."; "The slightest problem in a reactor will cause the control rods to plunge automatically in the uranium core at high speeds (this is called scramming the reactor) and stop the chain reaction."transitive

2. (intransitive) Of a nuclear reactor or some other thing: to shut down, usually because of an emergency.Examples: "This shut off current to the control rod mechanism, and the reactor scrammed (shut off) automatically."; "As soon as the earthquake struck, the reactors "scrammed"—shut down automatically—as they were supposed to."; "Immediately after the earthquake, following government regulations, the remaining reactors, 1–3, automatically SCRAMed; control rods shut down sustained fission reactions."intransitive

1. (also attributively) A shutdown of a nuclear reactor (or, by extension, some other thing), often done rapidly due to an emergency.Examples: "During scram operation, a scram signal de-energizes the inlet and outlet scram valves. The outlet scram valve vents the volume above the drive piston to a scram dump tank. The inlet scram valve supplies scram pressure obtained from an accumulator to the under side of the vented piston."; "Of the 14 scrams experienced, none was caused by operation exceeding the design parameters. Eight scrams occurred with the control rods withdrawn. [...] Six scrams occurred while the rods were inserted. Five were intentional to prevent accidental rod withdrawal, and one was the unintentional result of an instrument adjustment."; "By the time scram is completed, coolant temperatures would likely be climbing due to the combination of a large heat capacity within the fuel pins and low coolant flow."alsoattributive

1. (transitive, Derbyshire, Wales) To scratch (something) with claws or fingernails; to claw.Examples: "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]"; "A woman has praised firefighters and her cat for saving her life following an alleged arson attack. Two-and-a-half-year-old tortoiseshell Taffy repeatedly bit owner Tracie Horgan-Hodgkiss on the hand until she woke up when her flat filled with acrid smoke in the early hours of this morning. [...] "I’d like to say thank you very much to the firefighters for coming to rescue me. And I am sorry that Taffy scrammed one of them!""DerbyshireWalestransitive

2. (transitive, US, mining, archaic) 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.Examples: "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."; "Recently, Capt. Oliver, [...] set a couple of experienced miners to work scramming in this underground pit, when it was soon discovered that what the former mining captain had conceived to be a regular foot-wall, was, in fact, a thin shale of rock, which hid from view what now appears to be a very large body of clean blue ore."USarchaictransitive

1. (Derbyshire, Wales) A scratch, especially caused by claws or fingernails.Examples: "scram [...] Noun. [...] 2. A scratch. [South Wales use]"DerbyshireWales

2. (US, mining, archaic) A mine previously worked on where most of the ore is believed to have been removed, but which is still being mined on a small scale.Examples: "[page 64] Many of these old openings still afford places where ore is mined. A man can start in almost anywhere and fine ore. There is a great deal of this "scramming" done at the Jackson. Quite a proportion of the annual product comes in this way. Not unfrequently one of these "scrams" leads to the finding of a large deposit of ore. [...] [page 67] South from the east part of the Incline pit they have a scram of good ore which furnished a small product."; "There are numbered workings running to about 20, representing small pits and scrams, sometimes worked by contract by "scrammers.""USarchaic