v.
- break free from confinement or control.
▸(of a gas, liquid, or heat) leak from a container.
- elude or get free from (someone).
▸succeed in eluding (something dangerous or undesirable):
the baby narrowly escaped death.
- fail to be noticed or remembered by:
the name escaped him.
n.
- an act of escaping.
▸a means of escaping.
- a temporary distraction from reality or routine.
-
(also escape key)
a key on a computer keyboard which interrupts the current operation or converts subsequent characters to a control sequence.
- a garden plant or pet animal that has gone wild and (in plants) become naturalized.
Derivative
- escapable adj.
- escapee n.
- escaper n.
Etymology
ME: from OFr. eschaper, based on med. L. ex- ‘out’ + cappa ‘cloak’.