abscond

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

Either borrowed 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”) + *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place, set”).

• Cognate with sconce (“a type of light fixture”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əbˈskɒnd/
• IPA^(key): /æbˈskɑnd/, /æbˈzkɑnd/
• Rhymes: -ɒnd

Verb

abscond (third-person singular simple present absconds, present participle absconding, simple past and past participle absconded)

1. (intransitive, reflexive) To flee, often secretly; to steal away, particularly to avoid arrest or prosecution. [From mid 16th century.]

   Synonyms: flee, run away, steal away

   The thieves absconded with our property.

   • 1848, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 13, in The History of England:

     […] 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.

2. (intransitive) To withdraw from. [From mid 16th century.]
   • 2006, Richard Rojcewicz, The Gods And Technology: A Reading Of Heidegger, →ISBN:

     Modern technology accompanies the absconding of the original attitude.

   • 2009, Sonia Brill, Relationships Without Anger, →ISBN:

     You cannot abscond from the responsibility both you and your partner owe to this event, and that includes dealing with anger issues and any other emotional issues that come with it.

3. (transitive) To evade, to hide or flee from.

   The captain absconded his responsibility.

   • 2006, Aldo E. Chircop, Olof Lindén, Places of Refuge for Ships, →ISBN:

     If the distress situation is solved successfully, the anonymous shipowner will reap the commercial benefit, if the situation ends in disaster, the shipowner will hide behind an anonymous post box in a foreign country and will abscond responsibility.
4. (obsolete, transitive) To conceal; to take away. [First attested in the late 16^th century.]

   Synonym: conceal

   • 1759, William Porterfield, edited by G. Hamilton, John Balfour, treatise on the eye, the manner and phaenomena of vision, volume 2:

     for having applied to the Side of the Head any thin black Body, such as the Brim of a Hat, so as it may abscond the Objects that are upon that Side
5. (archaic, intransitive, reflexive) To hide, to be in hiding or concealment.
   • 1691-1735, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation‎^[1]:

     the Marmotto, […] which absconds all Winter doth […] live upon its own Fat.

Related terms

• sconce

Translations

to flee, often secretly

• Bulgarian: измъквам се, заминавам тайно (izmǎkvam se, zaminavam tajno)
• Dutch: heimelijk vertrekken (nl) (van/uit), zich stilletjes uit de voeten maken, zijn biezen pakken
• Finnish: karata (fi)
• German: sich davonmachen (de), türmen (de), davonstehlen (de)
• Interlingue:
• Latin: lateo (I abscond), latito (I abscond)
• Maori: whati
• Norwegian: rømme (no), stikke av
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Persian: گریختن (fa)
• Polish: zbiec (pl), uciec (pl)
• Portuguese: esconder (pt)-se (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian: otići potajice
• Spanish: fugarse (es), evadirse (es)
• Swedish: rymma (sv)
• Turkish: kaçmak (tr), sıvışmak (tr) (colloquial), tüymek (tr) (colloquial)

to withdraw from

• Bulgarian: избягвам, отдръпвам се от (izbjagvam, otdrǎpvam se ot)
• Catalan: fugir (ca), escapar-se (ca), escapolir-se (ca)
• Dutch: zich terugtrekken
• German: sich zurückziehen (de)
• Polish: uniknąć (pl), uciec od, ukryć się przed
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: fugir (pt), evadir (pt)
• Russian: уклоня́ться (ru) (uklonjátʹsja), избегать (ru) (izbegatʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: uminuti (sh)
• Swedish: avvika (sv), lämna (sv)
• Turkish: (geri) çekilmek (tr)

to hide (something)

• Bulgarian: укривам се (ukrivam se)
• Catalan: abscondir, amagar (ca), ocultar (ca), escondir (ca)
• Dutch: wegrennen (nl)
• German: sich verstecken (de)
• Persian: پنهان شدن
• Polish: zbiec (pl), uciec (pl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: esconder (pt), ocultar (pt)
• Russian: скрыва́ть (ru) (skryvátʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: sakriti (sh), prikriti (sh)
• Spanish: huir (es), fugarse (es)
• Swedish: gömma sig (sv)
• Turkish: saklanmak (tr)

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French

Verb

abscond

1. third-person singular present indicative of abscondre

   il abscond — he hides