take a powder

Burned: I assume that at this point you’re relieved he took a powder.

At eight o’clock in the evening he will eat some miserable rubbish they get in exchange for their food tickets, then he will take a powder for his headache and work on.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts wants to run for president in 2020, but her hometown newspaper thinks maybe she just oughta take a powder.

“He took a powder in the bathroom and left, and allowed Maine to decide West Virginia’s vote,” Mr. Morrisey said of his Democratic opponent.

When his casinos went belly-up, Trump vodka took a powder, Trump steaks sat in their freezers and his investments in buildings like the Plaza Hotel failed to make money, Trump turned to the banks.