Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | French Leave To take French leave. To take without asking leave or giving any equivalent. The allusion is to the French soldiers, who in their invasions take what they require, and never wait to ask permission of the owners or pay any price for what they take. The French retort this courtesy by calling a creditor an Englishman (un Anglais, a term in vogue in the sixteenth century, and used by Clement Marot. Even to the present hour, when a man excuses himself from entering a café or theatre, because he is in debt, he says: "Non, non! je suis Anglé ' ("I am cleared out"). "Et aujourd'huy je faictz soliciter Tous me angloys." Guillaume Creton (1520). French leave. Leaving a party, house, or neighbourhood without bidding goodbye to anyone; to slip away unnoticed. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Slang in 1811 | FRENCH LEAVE. To take French leave; to go off without taking leave of the company: a saying frequently applied to persons who have run away from their creditors. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Avoidance | Beat a retreat; turn tail, turn one's back; take to one's heels; runaway, run for one's life; cut and run; be off like a shot; fly, flee; fly away, flee away, run away from; take flight, take to flight; desert, elope; make off, scamper off, sneak off, shuffle off, sheer off; break away, tear oneself away, slip away, slink away, steel away, make away from, scamper away from, sneak away from, shuffle away from, sheer away from; slip cable, part company, turn one's heel; sneak out of, play truant, give one the go by, give leg bail, take French leave, slope, decamp, flit, bolt, abscond, levant, skedaddle, absquatulate, cut one's stick, walk one's chalks, show a light pair of heels, make oneself scarce; escape; go away; (depart); abandon; reject. |
Freedom | Take a liberty; make free with, make oneself quite at home; use a freedom; take leave, take French leave. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: FRENCH LEAVE |
| English words defined with "FRENCH LEAVE": To walk one's chalks. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "FRENCH LEAVE": Cleared out. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | French Leave (1948) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Expression using "FRENCH LEAVE": take french leave. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| Language | Translations for "FRENCH LEAVE"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | nélkül távozik (to take french leave), meglép (slip by, to abscond, to absquatulate, to bundle off, to bundle out, to bunk off, to bust out, to clear out, to cut one's stick, to decamp, to do a bunk, to do a get, to do a shift, to effect one's escape, to get out of the rain, to hop the stick, to hop the twig, to jink, to make off, to make one's getaway, to make tracks, to nip off, to nip out, to skedaddle, to slip away, to slip by, to sting one's hook, to take a powder, to take french leave, to take the back track, to tommy), köszönés (bow, bowing, greeting, to take french leave), engedély bevárása nélkül cselekszik (to take french leave), elillan (evaporate, make oneself scarce, slip by, to abscond, to dissolve into thin air, to jink, to make off, to make tracks, to ooze, to play injun, to slide away, to slide by, to slip away, to slip by, to slip the painter, to steal away, to take french leave, to vamoose, to vamose, to volatilize), búcsú nélkül távozik (to take french leave), angolosan távozik (to slip away, to slip by, to take french leave), észrevétlenül távozik (to take french leave). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | gimmeeaght gyn chied. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | enchfray eavelay şterge englezeşte (take french leave). (various references) bondpermission. (various references) sıvışma (bunk, decampment, scuttle, skedaddle, wing), izinsiz ayrılma (absence without leave). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | Tyrophagus. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-e-e-f-h-l-n-r-v" | |
-2 letters: freelance, relevance. | |
-3 letters: revanche, venereal, vernacle. | |
-4 letters: charnel, cleaner, cleaver, enclave, enfever, fleecer, haverel, leacher, reclean, refence, valence. | |
-5 letters: achene, careen, carvel, carven, cavern, cereal, chafer, chelae, chevre, claver, cleave, clever, craven, crenel, eleven, enface, enlace, evener, feeler, fencer, fleche, fleece, fleech, flench, french, healer, heaven, heaver, heeler, lancer, laveer, leaner, leaven, leaver, lecher. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Crosswords 2. Usage: Modern 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Expressions | 5. Translations: Modern 6. Translations: Ancient 7. Anagrams 8. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.