Search

to depart in a sudden and secret manner, especially to avoid capture and legal prosecution:
the cashier absconded with the money.
contemporary examples

aided by some divine meddling, paris performs the consummate indignity against his host menelaus by absconding with his wife.
‘a sustained sense of violation’: when bad house guests invade literature matt seidel july 22, 2013

historical examples

camilla could now stay no longer; nor could edgar, though adoring the hearty joy of sir hugh, refuse to aid her in absconding.
camilla f-nny burney

absconding americans or sulus were to be mutually surrendered.
the philippine islands john foreman

had my husband, to your knowledge, a reason for absconding suddenly?
the atlantic monthly, volume 18, no. 108, october, 1866 various

absconding has been punished with various degrees of severity.
the history of tasmania , volume ii (of 2) john west

absconding cashiers will, in future, therefore have to be remarkably circ-mspect in their choice of foreign residence.
the strand magazine, volume xxvii, issue 160, april, 1904 various

any one who had come aboard might have supposed we were all absconding from the law.
essays of travel robert louis stevenson

his excuse for absconding was that many of those who would be the princ-p-l witnesses were his personal enemies.
the chronicles of newgate, vol. 1/2 arthur griffiths

in the meantime, by the fact of absconding he was in contempt of court.
the quality of mercy w. d. howells

i am much surprised at his absconding, as he had nothing but a spade to go off with.
the mirror of literature, amus-m-nt, and instruction, vol. 14, issue 402, supplementary number (1829) various

verb
(intransitive) to run away secretly, esp from an open inst-tution or to avoid prosecution or punishment
v.

1560s, from middle french abscondre and directly from latin abscondere “to hide, conceal, put out of sight,” from ab(s)- “away” (see ab-) + condere “put together, store,” from com- “together” (see com-) + dere “put,” from pie -dhe- “to put, place, make” (see fact-tious). the notion is of “to hide oneself,” especially to escape debt or the law. related: absconded; absconder; absconding.