furlough

See also: Furlough

English

WOTD – 23 March 2009

Etymology

From Dutch verlof (“furlough”), probably from Middle Low German verlōf (“furlough, permission”) (possibly via German Verlaub), from the verb verlōven (“to allow”), from Old Saxon far- + lōvian (“to trust, believe”). From Middle Low German also German Verlaub, Danish forlov. Doublet of leave.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɜː.ləʊ/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈfɝ.loʊ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈfɜː.ləʉ/

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈføː.lɐʉ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ləʊ
• Hyphenation: fur‧lough

Noun

furlough (countable and uncountable, plural furloughs)

1. A leave of absence or vacation.
   1. (US) Especially one granted to a member of the armed forces, or to a prisoner.
      • 1957, James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues”, in Going to Meet the Man‎^[1], Dial, published 1965:

        And I had a lot of things on my mind and I pretty well forgot my promise to Mama until I got shipped home on a special furlough for her funeral.

   2. (British) Especially one granted to a missionary.
2. The documents authorizing such leave.
3. A period of unpaid time off, used by an employer to reduce costs.
   • 2008 November 7, Jon Ortiz, “State workers rip Schwarzenegger's job furlough plan”, in The Sacramento Bee‎^[2]:

     The state estimates the one-day-a-month furlough spread over the 18 months of the plan would amount to a 5 percent cut in pay.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:furlough.

Derived terms

• prefurlough

Translations

leave of absence

• Bulgarian: отпуск (bg) m (otpusk)
• Czech: (army) dovolenka (cs) f
• Dutch: verlof (nl) n
• Finnish: loma (fi)
• French: congé (fr) m
• Galician: permiso, licenza (gl) f
• German: Urlaub (de) m, (prisoner) Hafturlaub (de) m, (prisoner) Ausgang (de) m, (prisoner) Freigang (de) m
• Hungarian: eltávozási engedély, szabadság (hu), eltávozás (hu), eltáv
• Irish: scor m
• Italian: licenza (it) f, congedo (it) m
• Polish: urlop (pl) m
• Portuguese: licença (pt) f
• Romanian: învoire (ro) f, permisie (ro) f
• Russian: о́тпуск (ru) m (ótpusk), увольне́ние (ru) n (uvolʹnénije), побы́вка (ru) f (pobývka)
• Scottish Gaelic: fòrladh m
• Slovak: dovolenka f
• Spanish: permiso (es) m, dispensa (es) f, licencia (es) m
• Swedish: permission (sv)
• Turkish:

  Ottoman Turkish: رخصت (ruhsat)

• Ukrainian: зві́льнення n (zvílʹnennja) (military), відпустка (vidpustka) (prisoner)

documents authorizing leave of absence

• Czech: propustka f
• Finnish: lomalupa
• Hungarian: szabadságolási/távozási engedély
• Polish: przepustka (pl)
• Russian: увольни́тельная (ru) f (uvolʹnítelʹnaja)
• Scottish Gaelic: fòrladh m
• Spanish: permiso de ausencia oficial

period of unpaid time off used by an employer to reduce costs

• Czech: nucená dovolená f
• Dutch: onbetaald verlof n
• Finnish: lomautus (fi), pakkoloma (fi)
• French: chômage technique (fr) m
• German: unbezahlter Zwangsurlaub m, Zwangsurlaub m, Kurzarbeit (de) f
• Hungarian: kényszerszabadság, fizetés nélküli szabadság
• Italian: permesso non retribuito m, cassa integrazione f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: permittering m or f

• Portuguese: licença não remunerada
• Russian: неоплачиваемый отпуск (neoplačivajemyj otpusk)
• Serbo-Croatian: neplaćeni dopust, prisilni odmor
• Spanish: ausencia no pagada f, sabático obligatorio no pagado m

Verb

furlough (third-person singular simple present furloughs, present participle furloughing, simple past and past participle furloughed)

1. (transitive) To grant a furlough to (someone).
2. (transitive) To have (an employee) not work in order to reduce costs; to send (someone) on furlough.
   • 2025 January, Niklas Amberg, Richard Friberg, Chad Syverson, “Have We Got News For You: Firm-Level Evidence on the Optimal Choice of Expected Capacity Utilization”, in NBER Working Papers, number 33400, page 4:

     This implies, for example, that firms should not revise their estimated production capacity downwards when furloughing workers, but should do so after laying off staff permanently.

Derived terms

• furlougher
• unfurloughed

Translations

to grant a furlough

• Finnish: myöntää loma
• German: beurlauben (de)
• Hungarian: szabadságot ad, szabadságol (hu)
• Ido: konjedar (io)

to bar (an employee) from working

• Finnish: lomauttaa (fi)
• French: mettre au chômage technique (fr), mettre à pied (fr)
• German: zwangsbeurlauben
• Hungarian: kényszerszabadságra küld
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: permittere

Further reading

• furlough on Wikipedia.Wikipedia