Escape - Definition

n 1: the act of escaping physically; "he made his escape from
the mental hospital"; "the canary escaped from its cage";
"his flight was an indication of his guilt" [syn: escape,
flight]
2: an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through
diversion or fantasy; "romantic novels were her escape from
the stress of daily life"; "his alcohol problem was a form of
escapism" [syn: escape, escapism]
3: nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or
trickery) that you are supposed to do; "his evasion of his
clear duty was reprehensible"; "that escape from the
consequences is possible but unattractive" [syn: evasion,
escape, dodging]
4: an avoidance of danger or difficulty; "that was a narrow
escape"
5: a means or way of escaping; "hard work was his escape from
worry"; "they installed a second hatch as an escape"; "their
escape route"
6: a plant originally cultivated but now growing wild
7: the discharge of a fluid from some container; "they tried to
stop the escape of gas from the damaged pipe"; "he had to
clean up the leak" [syn: escape, leak, leakage,
outflow]
8: a valve in a container in which pressure can build up (as a
steam boiler); it opens automatically when the pressure
reaches a dangerous level [syn: safety valve, relief
valve, escape valve, escape cock, escape]
v 1: run away from confinement; "The convicted murderer escaped
from a high security prison" [syn: escape, get away,
break loose]
2: fail to experience; "Fortunately, I missed the hurricane"
[syn: miss, escape]
3: escape potentially unpleasant consequences; get away with a
forbidden action; "She gets away with murder!"; "I couldn't
get out from under these responsibilities" [syn: get off,
get away, get by, get out, escape]
4: be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by; "What you
are seeing in him eludes me" [syn: elude, escape]
5: remove oneself from a familiar environment, usually for
pleasure or diversion; "We escaped to our summer house for a
few days"; "The president of the company never manages to get
away during the summer" [syn: escape, get away]
6: flee; take to one's heels; cut and run; "If you see this man,
run!"; "The burglars escaped before the police showed up"
[syn: scat, run, scarper, turn tail, lam, run
away, hightail it, bunk, head for the hills, take to
the woods, escape, fly the coop, break away]
7: issue or leak, as from a small opening; "Gas escaped into the
bedroom"