fly the coop
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From fly, to flee or run away, + coop, an enclosure for birds.
Verb
[edit]fly the coop (third-person singular simple present flies the coop, present participle flying the coop, simple past flew the coop, past participle flown the coop)
- (idiomatic) To depart hastily or unannounced; to escape or flee.
- 1910, William MacLeod Raine, chapter 3, in A Texas Ranger:
- Not liking the accommodations, I took the first chance and flew the coop.
- 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 243:
- By the time the disk was out, most of Smith had apparently flown the coop; only Gayle and Jerry remained
- (of a bird) To escape from a pen or similar enclosure.
- 1961 January 6, “Assisi Revisited”, in Time:
- Explained a Curtiz assistant: "We had three ravens in Assisi; one died of cold, and another flew the coop."
Usage notes
[edit]- Usually used in the simple past form.
Translations
[edit]to depart hastily or flee
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the escape of a bird from an enclosure
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