| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| escape |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | es·cape |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   -sk p |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: es·caped, es·cap·ing, es·capes
| | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To break loose from confinement; get free: escape from jail. 2. To issue from confinement or an enclosure; leak or seep out: Gas was escaping from the vent. 3. To avoid a serious or unwanted outcome: escaped from the accident with their lives. 4. Botany To become established in the wild. Used of a cultivated species. 5. 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. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To succeed in avoiding: The thief escaped punishment. 2. To break loose from; get free of: The spacecraft escaped Earth's gravitational field. 3. To elude the memory or comprehension of: Her name escapes me. The book's significance escaped him. 4. To issue involuntarily from: A sigh escaped my lips. | | NOUN: | 1. The act or an instance of escaping. 2. A means of escaping. 3. A means of obtaining temporary freedom from worry, care, or unpleasantness: Television is my escape from worry. 4. A gradual effusion from an enclosure; a leakage. 5. Botany A plant that has become established away from the area of cultivation. 6. 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. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English escapen, from Old North French escaper, from Vulgar Latin *excappre, to get out of one's cape, get away : Latin ex-, ex- + Medieval Latin cappa, cloak. | | OTHER FORMS: | es·capa·ble —ADJECTIVE
es·caper —NOUN
| | SYNONYMS: | escape, avoid, shun, eschew, evade, elude 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 © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
