abscond English · revision 1937

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /əbˈskɒnd/ ''(UK)''; /əbˈskɑnd/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|abscondre|t=to hide]] and directly [[der|la|abscondere|t=to hide away, conceal]],^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) [[af|la|abs-|condere|t1=away|t2=to put together, store]].^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) ''Condere'' is itself from ''com-'' “together” and ''-dere'' “to put”.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To hide oneself or withdraw from public view, used especially of debtors and others escaping the law (1565–78).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Latin and in early English the verb was transitive, “to hide (something)”, and it was also used reflexively, “to hide oneself”;^(OED 1989) the intransitive use arose by omitting the reflexive pronoun.^(OED 1989) The transitive and reflexive uses are now obsolete or archaic,^(OED 1989) and the word settled on the sense of leaving suddenly and secretly to escape debt or the law.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) Random House dates the word to 1605–15, later than the OED and Barnhart.^(RHWU)^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1565 – to hide oneself, to withdraw from view (Barnhart, OED).^(Barnhart 1995)^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1578 – first date given by Merriam-Webster.^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1612 – transitive, to hide (something), now obsolete.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1719 – the adjective ''abscond'' “hidden”, now obsolete.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To leave quickly and in secret, especially to [[avoid]] [[arrest]] or prosecution.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To go off secretly taking something that belongs to someone else, as in ''absconded with the funds''.^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(archaic)'' To hide or [[conceal]].^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[absconder]]

+ * [[abscondence]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sconce]]

+ * [[recondite]]

+ * [[condiment]]

+ * [[decamp]]

+ * [[bolt]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}