escape definition | Dictionary.com

es⋅cape

[i-skeyp]

verb, -caped, -cap⋅ing, noun, adjective

–verb (used without object)

1.	to slip or get away, as from confinement or restraint; gain or regain liberty: to escape from jail.

2.	to slip away from pursuit or peril; avoid capture, punishment, or any threatened evil.

3.	to issue from a confining enclosure, as a fluid.

4.	to slip away; fade: The words escaped from memory.

5.	Botany. (of an originally cultivated plant) to grow wild.

6.	(of a rocket, molecule, etc.) to achieve escape velocity.

–verb (used with object)

7.	to slip away from or elude (pursuers, captors, etc.): He escaped the police.

8.	to succeed in avoiding (any threatened or possible danger or evil): She escaped capture.

9.	to elude (one's memory, notice, search, etc.).

10.	to fail to be noticed or recollected by (a person): Her reply escapes me.

11.	(of a sound or utterance) to slip from or be expressed by (a person, one's lips, etc.) inadvertently.

–noun

12.	an act or instance of escaping.

13.	the fact of having escaped.

14.	a means of escaping: We used the tunnel as an escape.

15.	avoidance of reality: She reads mystery stories as an escape.

16.	leakage, as of water or gas, from a pipe or storage container.

17.	Botany. a plant that originated in cultivated stock and is now growing wild.

18.	Physics, Rocketry. the act of achieving escape velocity.

19.	Computers. a key (frequently labeled ESC) found on microcomputer keyboards and used for any of various functions, as to interrupt a command or move from one part of a program to another.

–adjective

20.	for or providing an escape: an escape route.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME escapen, ascapen < ONF escaper (F échapper) < VL *excappāre, v. deriv. (with ex- ex- ¹ ) of LL cappa hooded cloak (see cap ¹ )

Related forms:

es⋅cap⋅a⋅ble, adjective

es⋅cape⋅less, adjective

es⋅cap⋅er, noun

es⋅cap⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. flee, abscond, decamp. 7. dodge, flee, avoid. Escape, elude, evade mean to keep free of something. To escape is to succeed in keeping away from danger, pursuit, observation, etc.: to escape punishment. To elude implies baffling pursuers or slipping through an apparently tight net: The fox eluded the hounds. To evade is to turn aside from or go out of reach of a person or thing: to evade the police. See also avoid. 12. flight.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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es·cape (ĭ-skāp')

v. es·caped, es·cap·ing, es·capes

v. intr.

To break loose from confinement; get free: escape from jail.
To issue from confinement or an enclosure; leak or seep out: Gas was escaping from the vent.
To avoid a serious or unwanted outcome: escaped from the accident with their lives.
Botany To become established in the wild. Used of a cultivated species.
Computer Science To interrupt a command, exit a program, or change levels within a program by using a key, combination of keys, or key sequence.

v. tr.

To succeed in avoiding: The thief escaped punishment.
To break loose from; get free of: The spacecraft escaped Earth's gravitational field.
To elude the memory or comprehension of: Her name escapes me. The book's significance escaped him.
To issue involuntarily from: A sigh escaped my lips.

The act or an instance of escaping.
A means of escaping.
A means of obtaining temporary freedom from worry, care, or unpleasantness: Television is my escape from worry.
A gradual effusion from an enclosure; a leakage.
Botany A plant that has become established away from the area of cultivation.
Computer Science A key, combination of keys, or key sequence, used especially to interrupt a command, exit a program, or change levels within a program.

[Middle English escapen, from Old North French escaper, from Vulgar Latin *excappāre, to get out of one's cape, get away : Latin ex-, ex- + Medieval Latin cappa, cloak.]
es·cap'a·ble adj., es·cap'er n.

Synonyms: These verbs mean to get or stay away from persons or things. Escape can mean to get free or to remain untouched or unaffected by something unwanted: "Let no guilty man escape, if it can be avoided" (Ulysses S. Grant).
Avoid always involves an effort to keep away from what is considered to be a source of danger or difficulty: avoiding strenuous exercise.
Shun refers to deliberately keeping clear of what is unwelcome or undesirable: "Family friends ... she shunned like the plague" (John Galsworthy).
Eschew involves staying clear of something because to do otherwise would be unwise or morally wrong: "Eschew evil, and do good" (Book of Common Prayer).
Evade implies adroit maneuvering and sometimes implies dishonesty or irresponsibility: tried to evade jury duty.
To elude is to get away from artfully: eluded their pursuers.

Usage Note: Traditionally, escape is used with from when it means "break loose" and with a direct object when it means "avoid." Thus we might say The forger escaped from prison by hiding in a laundry truck, but The forger escaped prison when he turned in his accomplices in order to get a suspended sentence. In recent years, however, escape has been used with a direct object in the sense "break free of": The spacecraft will acquire sufficient velocity to escape the sun's gravitational attraction. This usage is well established and should be regarded as standard.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Escape

Es*cape"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Escaped; p. pr. & vb. n. Escaping.] [OE. escapen, eschapen, OF. escaper, eschaper, F. echapper, fr. LL. ex cappa out of one's cape or cloak; hence, to slip out of one's cape and escape. See 3d Cape, and cf. Scape, v.]

1. To flee from and avoid; to be saved or exempt from; to shun; to obtain security from; as, to escape danger. "Sailors that escaped the wreck." --Shak.

2. To avoid the notice of; to pass unobserved by; to evade; as, the fact escaped our attention.

They escaped the search of the enemy. --Ludlow.

Escape

Es*cape"\, v. i. 1. To flee, and become secure from danger; -- often followed by from or out of.

Haste, for thy life escape, nor look behind?? --Keble.

2. To get clear from danger or evil of any form; to be passed without harm.

Such heretics . . . would have been thought fortunate, if they escaped with life. --Macaulay.

3. To get free from that which confines or holds; -- used of persons or things; as, to escape from prison, from arrest, or from slavery; gas escapes from the pipes; electricity escapes from its conductors.

To escape out of these meshes. --Thackeray.

Escape

Es*cape"\, n. 1. The act of fleeing from danger, of evading harm, or of avoiding notice; deliverance from injury or any evil; flight; as, an escape in battle; a narrow escape; also, the means of escape; as, a fire escape.

I would hasten my escape from the windy storm. --Ps. lv. 8.

2. That which escapes attention or restraint; a mistake; an oversight; also, transgression. [Obs.]

I should have been more accurate, and corrected all those former escapes. --Burton.

3. A sally. "Thousand escapes of wit." --Shak.

4. (Law) The unlawful permission, by a jailer or other custodian, of a prisoner's departure from custody.

Note: Escape is technically distinguishable from prison breach, which is the unlawful departure of the prisoner from custody, escape being the permission of the departure by the custodian, either by connivance or negligence. The term escape, however, is applied by some of the old authorities to a departure from custody by stratagem, or without force. --Wharton.

5. (Arch.) An apophyge.

6. Leakage or outflow, as of steam or a liquid.

7. (Elec.) Leakage or loss of currents from the conducting wires, caused by defective insulation.

Escape pipe (Steam Boilers), a pipe for carrying away steam that escapes through a safety valve.

Escape valve (Steam Engine), a relief valve; a safety valve. See under Relief, and Safety.

Escape wheel (Horol.), the wheel of an escapement.

Escape

Es*cape"\, n. (Bot.) A plant which has escaped from cultivation.

Language Translation for : escape

Spanish: escapar(se),

German: entkommen,

Japanese: 逃げる

More Translations »

escape

c.1300, from O.N.Fr. escaper, from O.Fr. eschaper, from V.L. *excappare, lit. "get out of one's cape, leave a pursuer with just one's cape," from L. ex- "out of" + L.L. cappa "mantle." Escapee first attested 1875. Escapist in the fig. sense is from 1930; escapism is from 1933. Escape clausein the legal sense first recorded 1945.

Main Entry: es·cape
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Forms: es·caped; es·cap·ing
: to depart from lawful custody with the intent of avoiding confinement or the administration of justice

Main Entry: escape
Function: noun
1 : an act or instance of escaping
2 : the criminal offense of escaping

Main Entry: ¹es·cape
Pronunciation: is-'kAp
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: es·caped; es·cap·ing
intransitive senses
: to avoid or find relief from something by means of an escape escape transitive senses
: to avoid or find relief from (something) bymeans of an escape escape reality>

Main Entry: ²escape
Function: noun
: an act or instance of escaping: as a : evasion of something undesirable escape from pain and suffering> b : distraction or relief from routine or reality escape except alcohol>;especially : mental distraction or relief by flight into idealizing fantasy or fiction that serves to glorify the self

Main Entry: ³escape
Function: adjective
: providing a means of escape <escape literature>

escape es·cape (ĭ-skāp')
n.

A gradual effusion from an enclosure; a leakage.
A cardiological situation in which one pacemaker defaults or an atrioventricular conduction fails, and another pacemaker sets the heart's pace for one or more beats.

ESCAPE language
An early system on the IBM 650.
[Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)].
(1995-01-05)

escape character
(ESC) ASCII character 27.
When sent by the user, escape is often used to abort execution or data entry. When sent by the computer it often starts an escape sequence.
(1997-11-27)

escape

In addition to the idiom beginning with escape, also see narrow escape.

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