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Definition 2024


take_French_leave

French leave

English

Noun

French leave (uncountable)

  1. A sudden or unannounced departure, or one taken without permission.
    • 2010, William Marvel, The Great Task Remaining: The Third Year of Lincoln's War, page 10:
      he may have felt a particular need to mitigate the responsibility of those who shirked their duty, for as he wrote that letter he had just returned from French leave himself.

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