escape English · revision 151

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɪˈskeɪp/, /ɪk-/ ''(UK)''; /ɪˈskeɪp/, /ə-/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ From [[enm|escapen]],^(AHD)^(RHWU) [[bor|fro-nor|escaper]] (Central Old French ''eschaper'', modern French ''échapper''),^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline) [[der|la-vul|*excappāre|t=to get out of one’s cape]],^(AHD)^(Etymonline) from Latin ''ex-'' “out of” + [[la-lat|cappa|t=cloak]].^(AHD)^(OED 1989) The image is of leaving a pursuer holding only one’s cape.^(Etymonline)

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ “To free oneself from confinement; to get away safely by flight” (c. 1300; the OED's first quotation is from 1292).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From the mid-14th century the verb was used of things that elude a person's grasp or notice,^(Etymonline) and from the late 14th century of avoiding something unpleasant.^(Etymonline) The noun followed the verb;^(Etymonline) the sense “means of escape” dates from 1810,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and mental or emotional escape from reality from 1853.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In the space age it came to mean overcoming a planet's gravity (1947).^(OED 1989) The OED notes the early aphetic form ''scape'', still used as a poetic archaism (often written ''’scape'').^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1292 – “to gain one's liberty by flight”.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1300 – the noun, as ''eschap''.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1450 – of fluids, “to leak out”.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1810 – “a means of escape”, as in ''fire escape''.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1853 – mental or emotional escape.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1939 – ''escape clause''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1947 – escape from a planet's gravity.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To get free from confinement or control.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To avoid something unpleasant, such as capture or punishment.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of a gas or liquid, to leak out.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+ # To be forgotten by, or to go unnoticed by.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An act of escaping.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A means of escaping.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)

+ # A temporary distraction from reality.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A leakage of gas or liquid.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A cultivated plant growing wild.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)

+ # ''(computing)'' A key used to interrupt or exit a command.^(AHD)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[escapable]]

+ * [[escaper]]

+ * [[escapeless]]

+ * [[escapingly]]

+ * [[escapee]]

+ * [[escapement]]

+ * [[escapeway]]

+ * [[escapism]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[escapade]]

+ * [[cape]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Traditionally ''escape'' takes ''from'' in the sense “break loose” (''escaped from prison'') and a direct object in the sense “avoid” (''escaped prison'');^(AHD) its use with a direct object to mean “break free of” is now well established and standard.^(AHD)