Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Flee
Flee
(flē)
, Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Fled
(flĕd)
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Fleeing
.] [OE.
fleon
, fleen
, AS. fleón
(imperf
. fleáh
); akin to D. vlieden
, OHG. & OS. fliohan
, G. fliehen
, Icel. flȳja
(imperf. flȳði
), Dan. flye
, Sw. fly
(imperf. flydde
), Goth. þliuhan
. √84. Cf. Flight
.] To run away, as from danger or evil; to avoid in an alarmed or cowardly manner; to hasten off; – usually with from. This is sometimes omitted, making the verb transitive.
[He] cowardly
fled
, not having struck one stroke. Shakespeare
Flee
fornication. 1 Cor. vi. 18.
So
fled
his enemies my warlike father. Shakespeare
☞ When great speed is to be indicated, we commonly use fly, not flee; as, fly hence to France with the utmost speed. “Whither shall I fly to ’scape their hands?” , 5.
Shak.
See Fly
, Verb.
I.
Webster 1828 Edition
Flee
FLEE
, v.i.1.
To run with rapidity, as from danger; to attempt to escape; to hasten from danger or expected evil. The enemy fled at the first fire.Arise, take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt. Matt. 2.
2.
To depart; to leave; to hasten away.Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4.
3.
To avoid; to keep at a distance from.Flee fornication; flee from idolatry. 1Cor. 6:10.
To flee the question or from the question, in legislation, is said of a legislator who, when a question is to be put to the house, leaves his seat to avoid the dilemma of voting against his conscience, or giving an unpopular vote. In the phrases in which this verb appears to be transitive, there is really an ellipsis.
Definition 2024
flee
flee
English
Verb
flee (third-person singular simple present flees, present participle fleeing, simple past and past participle fled)
- (intransitive) To run away; to escape.
- The prisoner tried to flee, but was caught by the guards.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.
- (transitive) To escape from.
- (intransitive) To disappear quickly; to vanish.
- Ethereal products flee once freely exposed to air.
Related terms
Translations
to run away; to escape
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to escape from
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to disappear quickly