| Definitions | | take French leave |
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verb
- (intransitive) (italbrac, derogatory) To leave unannounced, to desert.
- 1786: "John Homespun", To the author of the Lounger included in Alexander Chalmers, The British Essayists: With Prefaces, Historical and Biographical (1802) - I ... agreed with him, who seemed as willing to be gone as myself, that we should cut short our visit and ... take a French leave early next morning.
- 1824: Edward Allen Talbot, Five Years' Residence in the Canadas: Including a Tour Through Part of the United States of America - No sooner do European servants arrive in America, than ...they ... of their employers, and, procuring land for themselves, commence the occupation of farming on their own account.
- 1829: William Nugent Glascock, Sailors and saints; or, Matrimonial man�uvres, by the authors of the 'Naval sketch book' - The first suggestion of the moment was one altogether unworthy of him, which was to incur the imputation of adopting Gallican habits, and taking what is known by the term "French leave".
- 1904: Elroy McKendree? Avery, William Abbatt, A History of the United States and Its People: From Their Earliest Records to the Present Time - In spite of threats and punishment, many Canadians deserted in order to care for their families and to provide food for the coming winter; more than two thousand are said thus to have taken French leave.
- 2005: Chidi Giniji, A Biafran Odyssey - I asked the boy to give them a bottle of Stout beer each before taking a French leave.
Translations: - French: filer í l'anglaise
- Italian: andarsene alla francese
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