Synonym Game

fly the coop

[koop, koop] Origin

coop

[koop, koop]
noun
1.
an enclosure, cage, or pen, usually with bars or wires, in which fowls or other small animals are confined for fattening, transportation, etc.
2.
any small or narrow place.
3.
Slang. a prison.
4.
Sometimes Facetious. a cooperative, especially the cooperative bookstore of a college or university.
verb (used with object)
5.
to place in or as if in a coop; confine narrowly (often followed by up or in).

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Fly the coop is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.
verb (used without object)
6.
Slang. (of a police officer) to park and sleep inside one's patrol car while on duty.
7.
fly the coop, Informal. to run off; depart abruptly; escape: We stopped to see my sister, but she'd flown the coop.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English coupe basket, perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Norwegian kaup wooden can; akin to Old English cȳpa basket

un·coop, verb (used with object)

co-op, coop, co-opt, coupe.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To fly the coop
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

coop
O.E. cype, cypa "basket, cask," akin to M.Du. kupe, probably from L. cupa "tub, cask," from PIE *keup- "hollow mound." The verb is attested from 1560s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

fly the coop definition


To get away or escape: “The Hendersons found the cocktail party rather dull and decided to fly the coop.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary

fly the coop definition


  1. tv.
    to escape from somewhere; to get away. : I was afraid he would fly the coop if I didn't tie him up.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

fly the coop

Escape, run away, as in After years of fighting with my mother, my father finally flew the coop. This term originally meant "escape from jail," known as the coop in underworld slang since the late 1700s. [Late 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
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