take a powder

idiomatic phrase

US, informal + somewhat old-fashioned

: to leave hurriedly

It is the players and incoming recruits who are most affected when a coach abruptly takes a powder.

—Jack McCallum

The beavers put up with this, Fair explains, until the surrounding population reached 250 families, and then the beavers took a powder.

—Gregory Jaynes

This is the worst extinction phase the planet has experienced since dinosaurs took a powder about 65 million years ago.

—The Lompoc (California) Record

Word History

First Known Use

1911, in the meaning defined above