FRENCH LEAVE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does French leave mean? 

• FRENCH LEAVE (noun)
  The noun FRENCH LEAVE has 1 sense:

1. an abrupt and unannounced departure (without saying farewell)

  Familiarity information: FRENCH LEAVE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FRENCH LEAVE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An abrupt and unannounced departure (without saying farewell)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("French leave" is a kind of...):

departure; going; going away; leaving (the act of departing)

 Context examples 

But as I was certain I should not be allowed to leave the enclosure, my only plan was to take French leave and slip out when nobody was watching, and that was so bad a way of doing it as made the thing itself wrong.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)