escapes

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of escape.

   Whenever the fox escapes the hounds, the hunt starts over from scratch.

   No detail escapes her notice during a final review of the manuscript.

   Note

   Here the verb's constructions matter more than its ending. With no object it means getting free (the prisoner escapes); with one it means eluding (she escapes the crowds). Watch the noticing sense: in the name escapes me, the thing forgotten is the subject and the person is the object. Programmers use it transitively too: a routine escapes each quotation mark so that it is read literally.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of escape.

   Her repeated escapes from captivity became legendary among the soldiers.

   The prison has recorded only two escapes in its long history.

   Note

   A plural that counts what the singular can leave as a mass. Escape is both countable and uncountable, and only the countable uses take -s: separate breakouts, separate leaks of steam or gas, several getaway holidays. It can also count the escapees themselves, so in the escapes were recaptured by nightfall it means the ones who got away, not their attempts. In computing it counts escape characters as well.

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