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French leave   /frɛntʃ liv/   Listen
noun
Leave  n.  
1.
Liberty granted by which restraint or illegality is removed; permission; allowance; license. "David earnestly asked leave of me." "No friend has leave to bear away the dead."
2.
The act of leaving or departing; a formal parting; a leaving; farewell; adieu; used chiefly in the phrase, to take leave, i. e., literally, to take permission to go. "A double blessing is a'double grace; Occasion smiles upon a second leave." "And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren."
French leave. See under French.
Synonyms: See Liberty.



adjective
French  adj.  Of or pertaining to France or its inhabitants.
French bean (Bot.), the common kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris).
French berry (Bot.), the berry of a species of buckthorn (Rhamnus catharticus), which affords a saffron, green or purple pigment.
French casement (Arch.) See French window, under Window.
French chalk (Min.), a variety of granular talc; used for drawing lines on cloth, etc. See under Chalk.
French cowslip (Bot.) The Primula Auricula. See Bear's-ear.
French fake (Naut.), a mode of coiling a rope by running it backward and forward in parallel bends, so that it may run freely.
French honeysuckle (Bot.) a plant of the genus Hedysarum (H. coronarium); called also garland honeysuckle.
French horn, a metallic wind instrument, consisting of a long tube twisted into circular folds and gradually expanding from the mouthpiece to the end at which the sound issues; called in France cor de chasse.
French leave, an informal, hasty, or secret departure; esp., the leaving a place without paying one's debts.
French pie (Zool.), the European great spotted woodpecker (Dryobstes major); called also wood pie.
French polish.
(a)
A preparation for the surface of woodwork, consisting of gums dissolved in alcohol, either shellac alone, or shellac with other gums added.
(b)
The glossy surface produced by the application of the above.
French purple, a dyestuff obtained from lichens and used for coloring woolen and silken fabrics, without the aid of mordants.
French red rouge.
French rice, amelcorn.
French roof (Arch.), a modified form of mansard roof having a nearly flat deck for the upper slope.
French tub, a dyer's mixture of protochloride of tin and logwood; called also plum tub.
French window. See under Window.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"French leave" Quotes from Famous Books



... was due the government, was about to loan it, when Lincoln, not at all disquieted, excused himself to the man from headquarters to go over to his boarding-house. Usually when a debtor thus eclipses himself the official expects to learn he is a defaulter and has "taken French leave," as was said on the border. But the ex-postmaster immediately came over, and, producing an old blue woolen sock, such as field-hands wore, poured out coin, copper and silver, to the exact amount of the debit. Much as the poor adventurer needed cash in the interval, ...
— The Lincoln Story Book • Henry L. Williams

... word of which he had written himself, 'The Mission of Woman in the World'. And while the Duchess was busily at work to fit him with an Embassy, he was only waiting to be gazetted before taking French leave and playing off this dirty trick on her, after fifteen years of uninterrupted happiness. 'The mission of woman in the world!' Well, the Prince understood what the mission of woman was. The next thing was to better the lesson. ...
— The Immortal - Or, One Of The "Forty." (L'immortel) - 1877 • Alphonse Daudet

... me about it as we ride into Lisbon. I want you to come with me. Lady O'Moy must forgive me if I take French leave, since she is nowhere to ...
— The Snare • Rafael Sabatini



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