fly the coop

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.
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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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