[f. ABSCOND + -ING1.] The act of self-concealment; a secret running away from public gaze, or from justice.
1684. Luttrell, Brief. Rel. (1857), I. 298. The coming over of these Scotchmen … and their absconding at the first breaking out of the plott.
1715. Burnet, Hist. own Time (1766), II. 211. His going out of the way might incline the Jury to believe the evidence the more for his absconding.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 552. Still, however, the king concealed his intention of absconding even from his chief ministers.
