# refuge

Pronunciation: US say "REF-yooj" /ˈɹɛfjuːd͡ʒ/; UK

## Noun

1. A place that provides safety, protection, or shelter from danger or trouble.
   - Simple: A safe place where you can go to escape danger or harm.
   - _The mountain hut served as a refuge for climbers caught in bad weather._
   - _Thousands fled to refuges set up along the border that winter._
2. The condition of being safe, protected, or sheltered from danger or distress.
   - Simple: The feeling or state of being safe and protected from harm.
   - _He sought refuge from his worries in long walks beside the sea._
   - _The quiet library offered a welcome refuge from the demands of the day._
3. A person or thing one turns to for safety or assistance; a recourse or resort.
   - Simple: A person or thing you turn to for help or safety when in trouble.
   - _Faith was his only refuge in the difficult months after the loss._
   - _When negotiations broke down, the courts became their last refuge._
4. A means or device resorted to in order to secure protection or defense.
   - Simple: A trick or plan someone uses to keep themselves safe or protected.
   - _Silence was her refuge against questions she could not answer._
   - _He took vague excuses as his refuge to avoid making any decision._
5. A raised or marked area in the middle of a road where pedestrians can wait safely partway across.
   - Simple: A safe spot in the middle of a road where people can wait while crossing.
   - _Pedestrians can pause on the central refuge before crossing the second lane._
   - _Planners added a refuge to help children cross the wide road safely._

## Verb

6. To return to a place that offers shelter.
   - Simple: To go back to a safe, sheltered place.
   - _Small fish leave the reeds to feed at dawn and refuge there again whenever herons appear._
   - _Refuging at the same cliff ledges night after night makes the colony easy to count._

## Verb

7. To give shelter to; to protect a person or thing from harm. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To keep someone safe and give them shelter.

## Origin

From Middle English refuge, borrowed from Old French refuge, from Latin refugium, which combines re- with fugiō ("flee"). It is a doublet of refugium.

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