Adjacent Words

French leave definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an abrupt and unannounced departure (without saying farewell)

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: from an 18th century French custom of leaving a reception without taking leave of the host or hostess Date: 1771 an informal, hasty, or secret departure

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Leave Leave, n. [OE. leve, leave, AS. le['a]f; akin to le['o]f pleasing, dear, E. lief, D. oorlof leave, G. arlaub, and erlauben to permit, Icel. leyfi. ? See Lief.] 1. Liberty granted by which restraint or illegality is removed; permission; allowance; license. David earnestly asked leave of me. --1 Sam. xx. 6. No friend has leave to bear away the dead. --Dryden. 2. The act of leaving or departing; a formal parting; a leaving; farewell; adieu; -- used chiefly in the phrase, to take leave, i. e., literally, to take permission to go. A double blessing is a'double grace; Occasion smiles upon a second leave. --Shak. And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren. --Acts xviii. 18. French leave. See under French. Syn: See Liberty.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

French French (fr[e^]nch), a. [AS. frencisc, LL. franciscus, from L. Francus a Frank: cf. OF. franceis, franchois, fran[,c]ois, F. fran[,c]ais. See Frank, a., and cf. Frankish.] Of or pertaining to France or its inhabitants. French bean (Bot.), the common kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris). French berry (Bot.), the berry of a species of buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus), which affords a saffron, green or purple pigment. French casement (Arch.) See French window, under Window. French chalk (Min.), a variety of granular talc; -- used for drawing lines on cloth, etc. See under Chalk. French cowslip (Bot.) The Primula Auricula. See Bear's-ear. French fake (Naut.), a mode of coiling a rope by running it backward and forward in parallel bends, so that it may run freely. French honeysuckle (Bot.) a plant of the genus Hedysarum (H. coronarium); -- called also garland honeysuckle. French horn, a metallic wind instrument, consisting of a long tube twisted into circular folds and gradually expanding from the mouthpiece to the end at which the sound issues; -- called in France cor de chasse. French leave, an informal, hasty, or secret departure; esp., the leaving a place without paying one's debts. French pie [French (here used in sense of ``foreign'') + pie a magpie (in allusion to its black and white color)] (Zo["o]l.), the European great spotted woodpecker (Dryobstes major); -- called also wood pie. French polish. (a) A preparation for the surface of woodwork, consisting of gums dissolved in alcohol, either shellac alone, or shellac with other gums added. (b) The glossy surface produced by the application of the above. French purple, a dyestuff obtained from lichens and used for coloring woolen and silken fabrics, without the aid of mordants. --Ure. French red rouge. French rice, amelcorn. French roof (Arch.), a modified form of mansard roof having a nearly flat deck for the upper slope. French tub, a dyer's mixture of protochloride of tin and logwood; -- called also plum tub. --Ure. French window. See under Window.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To take French leave; to go off without taking leave of the company: a saying frequently applied to persons who have run away from their creditors.

Moby Thesaurus

AWOL, abscondence, absence, absence without leave, absentation, absenteeism, absenting, absquatulation, bolt, cut, day off, decampment, default, departure, desertion, disappearance, disappearing act, elopement, escape, excused absence, exit, fleeing, flight, fugitation, furlough, hasty retreat, hegira, holiday, hooky, leave, leave of absence, leaving, nonappearance, nonattendance, quick exit, running away, sabbatical leave, scramming, sick leave, skedaddle, skedaddling, truancy, truantism, unexcused absence, vacation