flee
verbcommon in dialogue
- //ˈfliː//
- /[ˈflɪi̯]/
To run away; to escape.
verb
- 1
To run away; to escape.
The prisoner tried to flee, but was caught by the guards.
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bolde as a lyon.
As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.
When, however, the plant spirits were not strong enough in themselves, then the family called in the Medicine Man. He appeared, a "monster of so frightful mien", with noise making apparatus which produced such a terrifying din that even the hardiest demon was likely to flee.
- 2
To escape from.
Many people fled the country as war loomed.
Thousands of people moved northward trying to flee the drought.
The Government, having lit the fuse, is not going to be allowed to flee the explosion.
- 3
To disappear quickly; to vanish; to fleet.
Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.
Etymology
From Middle English flen, from Old English flēon, from Proto-West Germanic *fleuhan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk-, *plew- (“to fly, flow, run”). Cognate with Dutch vlieden, German fliehen, Icelandic flýja, Swedish fly, Gothic 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan). Within English, related to fly and more distantly to flow.
Forms
- past tense
- fled, fleed
- past participle
- fled, fleed
- present participle
- fleeing
- third person singular
- flees