escape
ESCAPE, v.t. L. capio, with a negative prefix, or from a word of the same family.
1. To flee from and avoid; to get out of the way; to shun; to obtain security from; to pass without harm; as, to escape danger.
A small number, that escape the sword, shall return. Jer.44.
Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Pet.1.
2. To pass unobserved; to evade; as, the fact escaped my notice or observation.
3. To avoid the danger of; as, to escape the sea. Act.28.
Note. This verb is properly intransitive, and in strictness should be followed by from; but usage sanctions the omission of it.
ESCAPE, v.i. To flee, shun and be secure from danger; to avoid an evil.
Escape for thy life to the mountains. Gen.19.
1. To be passed without harm. The balls whistled by me, my comrades fell, but I escaped.
ESCAPE, n. Flight to shun danger or injury; the act of fleeing from danger.
I would hasten my escape from the windy storm. Ps.55.
1. A being passed without receiving injury, as when danger comes near a person, but passes by, and the person is passive. Every soldier who survives a battle has had such an escape.
2. Excuse; subterfuge; evasion.
3. In law, an evasion of legal restraint or the custody of the sheriff, without due course of law. Escapes are voluntary or involuntary; voluntary, when an officer permits an offender or debtor to quit his custody, without warrant; and involuntary, or negligent, when an arrested person quits the custody of the officer against his will, and is not pursued forthwith and retaken before the pursuer hath lost sight of him.
4. Sally; flight; irregularity. Little used.
5. Oversight; mistake. Little used, or improper.
escapement
ESCAPEMENT, n. That part of a clock or watch, which regulates its movements, and prevents their acceleration.
escaping
ESCAPING, ppr. Fleeing from and avoiding danger or evil; being passed unobserved or unhurt; shunning; evading; securing safety; quitting the custody of the law, without warrant.
ESCAPING, n. Avoidance of danger. Ezra 9.