1. (

• escape ,
• flight ,

) the act of escaping physically; "he made his escape from the mental hospital"; "the canary escaped from its cage"; "his flight was an indication of his guilt" ;

2. (

• escape ,
• escapism

) an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy; "romantic novels were her escape from the stress of daily life"; "his alcohol problem was a form of escapism" ;

3. (

• evasion ,
• escape ,
• dodging

) nonperformance of something distasteful (as by deceit or trickery) that you are supposed to do; "his evasion of his clear duty was reprehensible"; "that escape from the consequences is possible but unattractive" ;

4. (

• escape ,

) an avoidance of danger or difficulty; "that was a narrow escape" ;

5. (

• escape ,

) a means or way of escaping; "hard work was his escape from worry"; "they installed a second hatch as an escape"; "their escape route" ;

6. (

• escape

) a plant originally cultivated but now growing wild ;

7. (

• escape ,
• leak ,
• leakage ,
• outflow

) the discharge of a fluid from some container; "they tried to stop the escape of gas from the damaged pipe"; "he had to clean up the leak" ;

8. (

• safety_valve ,
• relief_valve ,
• escape_valve ,
• escape_cock ,
• escape

) a valve in a container in which pressure can build up (as a steam boiler); it opens automatically when the pressure reaches a dangerous level ;

1. (

• escape ,
• get_away ,
• break_loose

) run away from confinement; "The convicted murderer escaped from a high security prison" ;

2. (

• miss ,
• escape

) fail to experience; "Fortunately, I missed the hurricane" ;

3. (

• get_off ,
• get_away ,
• get_by ,
• get_out ,
• escape ,

) escape potentially unpleasant consequences; get away with a forbidden action; "She gets away with murder!"; "I couldn't get out from under these responsibilities" ;

4. (

• elude ,
• escape

) be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by; "What you are seeing in him eludes me" ;

5. (

• escape ,
• get_away

) remove oneself from a familiar environment, usually for pleasure or diversion; "We escaped to our summer house for a few days"; "The president of the company never manages to get away during the summer" ;

6. (

• scat ,
• run ,
• scarper ,
• turn_tail ,
• lam ,
• run_away ,
• hightail_it ,
• bunk ,
• head_for_the_hills ,
• take_to_the_woods ,
• escape ,
• fly_the_coop ,
• break_away

) flee; take to one's heels; cut and run; "If you see this man, run!"; "The burglars escaped before the police showed up" ;

7. (

• escape ,

) issue or leak, as from a small opening; "Gas escaped into the bedroom" ;