Contents
- 1 English
- 1.1 Etymology
- 1.2 Pronunciation
- 1.3 Noun
- 1.3.1 Synonyms
- 1.3.2 Derived terms
- 1.3.3 Translations
- 1.3.4 See also
English[edit]
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Etymology[edit]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, from the 18th-century custom among the French upper class of leaving receptions etc. without formally announcing each departure to the host or hostess. Compare Spanish irse a la francesa and Portuguese sair à francesa ("go in the French manner") but also the otherwise ubiquitous attribution of this behavior to the English as with French filer à l’anglaise ("leave in the English manner"), Italian filarsela all'inglese, Polish wyjść po angielsku, etc.
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (AU) (file)
Noun[edit]
- A departure taken suddenly, without announcement, and/or without permission. [from 1770s]
1771, Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphry Clinker:
He stole away an Irishman's bride, and took a French leave of me and his master.
- (euphemistic) Synonym of AWOL: absence from military service without permission, especially temporary shirking of duty subject to punishment.
2010, William Marvel, The Great Task Remaining: The Third Year of Lincoln's War, page 10:
he may have felt a particular need to mitigate the responsibility of those who shirked their duty, for as he wrote that letter he had just returned from French leave himself.
Synonyms[edit]
- Irish goodbye, disappearing act, AWOL (figurative)
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
sudden or unannounced departure
- Chinese:
- Finnish: liukeneminen(fi), häipyminen(fi), haihtuminen(fi)
- French: filer à l’anglaise(fr) (take English leave)
- German: (dated, may not be understood) französischer Abschiedm (literally “French farewell”); (unidiomatic, but now preferable) grußloser Abschied, heimliche Abfahrt etc., einen Polnischen machen
- Hungarian: angolosan távozik(hu) (take English leave)
- Polish: wyjście po angielskun (take English leave)
- Portuguese: saída à francesaf
- Russian: ухо́д по-англи́йскиm (uxód po-anglíjski) (take English leave)
- Spanish: despedida a la francesaf
- Swedish: bondpermission(sv)c, (colloquially) bondpermis(sv)c
