# escape

Pronunciation: say "i-SKAYP" /ɪˈskeɪp/

## Verb

1. To get free from confinement or control, or to get away from those trying to catch you.
   - Simple: To get out of a place where you are kept, or get away before you are caught.
   - _Animals can escape if the gate is left open._
   - _Two inmates escaped during the storm and were never found._
2. To avoid or get away from an unpleasant person or thing.
   - Simple: To avoid something bad, or to get away from someone or something you find unpleasant.
   - _Hardly anyone in our office escaped the flu this winter._
   - _Refugees who escape the war zone often arrive with nothing._
4. To leak or pass out of something, typically accidentally or uncontrollably, said of a gas, liquid, light, or sound.
   - Simple: To get out of something, often by accident or without control, said of gas, liquid, light, or sound.
   - _Clamp the lid down tightly so no steam can escape while the rice cooks._
   - _Firefighters cleared the block after natural gas began escaping from a ruptured main._
6. To go unnoticed or unremembered by someone.
   - Simple: To not be noticed or remembered by someone.
   - _Her exact words escape me now, though I recall the tone._
   - _The error escaped the editor during the final review._
10. To halt a running program or command by pressing a key such as Esc, or a combination of keys.
   - Simple: To stop a program by pressing a special key, often the Esc key.
   - _You can escape the installation by pressing Esc twice._
   - _If the script hangs, escape out of it with Ctrl+C and run it again with the right file name._
11. To make a character be read literally instead of with the special meaning it would normally carry, usually by adding another character before it.
   - Simple: To mark a character so the computer reads it as ordinary text instead of giving it a special meaning.
   - _Remember to escape the backslash in the file path._
   - _The script escaped every ampersand in the text._

## Noun

3. The act of getting clear of a dangerous or unpleasant situation.
   - Simple: The act of getting away from a dangerous or bad situation.
   - _Their escape from the flooded valley took nearly three days._
   - _A quick escape from the wreckage saved the entire crew._
5. Something, such as a vacation, a pastime or a place, that takes your mind off everyday life and its troubles for a while.
   - Simple: Something, like a trip, a hobby or a quiet place, that gives you a break from everyday life and its problems.
   - _The cabin in the mountains offered a quiet escape._
   - _Weekend trips became her favorite escape from city life._
7. The keyboard key labeled Esc, pressed to cancel an action or close a window.
   - Simple: The key on a keyboard marked Esc, used to stop or cancel things.
   - _She tapped escape to dismiss the warning message._
   - _On most keyboards, escape sits in the top-left corner._
8. A person, animal, or thing that has broken free from confinement; an escapee.
   - Simple: A person, animal, or thing that has gotten away from a place where it was kept.
   - _Local birders doubted the record, suspecting the bird was an escape rather than a true wild visitor._
   - _The wallaby seen hopping along the country road turned out to be an escape from a wildlife park._
9. Leakage or outflow of something such as steam, a liquid, or an electric current passing through faulty insulation.
   - Simple: The leaking out of steam, gas, water, or electricity from a place where it should stay in.
   - _The hiss revealed an escape of high-pressure steam from the boiler seam._
   - _Faulty wiring caused a steady escape of current that drained the battery overnight._
12. The text character with code 27 (1B in hexadecimal), used to begin control sequences in terminals and devices.
   - Simple: A hidden computer character, numbered 27, that often signals the start of a special command.
   - _When the terminal receives an escape, it waits for the rest of the control sequence._
   - _Older printers relied on an escape to shift between different font modes._
13. In snooker, a successful shot played to reach the target ball after being snookered behind another ball.
   - Simple: In snooker, a shot that hits the right ball after your direct path to it was blocked.
   - _The frame turned on a brilliant escape from a tricky snooker._
   - _He attempted an escape off the side cushion but clipped the wrong ball._
14. A cultivated plant found growing in the wild, having spread there from gardens or fields by some agency.
   - Simple: A garden or farm plant that has spread and now grows in the wild.
   - _Surveyors recorded the lavender as an escape from an old cottage garden._
   - _The lupins lining the railway banks are a garden escape that has thrived far from any flower bed._

## Noun

15. A mistake, oversight, or transgression; something that has slipped past attention or restraint. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A mistake, slip, or wrongdoing that has gone unnoticed or unchecked.
16. A sally; a sudden bursting forth of words, wit, or feeling. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A sudden burst of words or feeling that breaks out without warning.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A defective product that is allowed to leave a manufacturing facility rather than being caught by quality control.
- (noun) In classical architecture, the small concave curve where a column's shaft flares into its base or merges into its capital.

## Origin

Latin ex- ('out') and Late Latin cappa ('cape, cloak') together formed Vulgar Latin *excappāre, literally 'to free oneself from one's cape.' That verb became escaper in Anglo-Norman and Old Northern French (Old French eschaper, modern French échapper), and Middle English borrowed it as escapen. Escapade is a cognate, and scape is a doublet.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/escape (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).