abscond
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
English [edit]
Etymology [edit]
- Either from Middle French abscondre or directly from Latin abscondere, present active infinitive of abscondō (“hide”); formed from abs, ab (“away”) + condō (“put together, store”), from con (“together”) + dō (“put”)[1].
- Cognate with sconce (“a type of light fixture”).
Pronunciation [edit]
- (RP) IPA: /əbˈskɒnd/, X-SAMPA: /@b"skQnd/
- (US) IPA: /æbˈskɑnd/, /æbˈzkɑnd/, X-SAMPA: /@b"skAnd/, /@b"zkAnd/
- Rhymes: -ɒnd
Verb [edit]
abscond (third-person singular simple present absconds, present participle absconding, simple past and past participle absconded)
- (Should we delete(+) this redundant sense?) (intransitive) To flee; to withdraw from. [First attested in the mid 16th century.][2]
- The rabbit absconds to avoid detection from predators
- (intransitive, reflexive) To depart secretly; to hide from; to steal away, particularly to avoid arrest or prosecution. [First attested in the mid 16th century.][2]
- 1848: Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England, Ch. 13
- ... that very homesickness which, in regular armies, drives so many recruits to abscond at the risk of stripes and of death.
- 1911: Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
- Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
The trees are leaving and cashiers abscond.
- Spring beckons! All things to the call respond;
- The captain absconded his responsibility.
- 1848: Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England, Ch. 13
- (transitive, obsolete) To hide [something], to conceal [something]; to take away [something]. [First attested in the late 16th century.][2]
- 2005, news release, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Inc, 15 February,
- “They try to abscond his wages [...]”
Translations [edit]
to withdraw from
|
to depart secretly
to hide (something)
References [edit]
- ^ 2004 [1998], Elliott K. Dobbie; Dunmore, C. William, et al., Barnhart, Robert K. editor, Chambers Dictionary of Etymology, Edinburgh, Scotland: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, ISBN 0550142304, page 4:
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2003 [1933], Brown, Lesley editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, edition 5th, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7, page 8:
French [edit]
Verb [edit]
abscond
- third-person singular present indicative of abscondre
- il abscond — he hides
