Pa. t. and pa. pple. fled. Forms: see below. [A Com. Teut. originally str. vb.: OE. fléon (fléah, flugon, flogen) = OFris. flîa, OS. fliohan (MDu. vlîen, pa. t. vlô, later MDu. and mod.Du. vlieden, pa. t. vlood, pa. pple. vloden), OHG. fliohan (MHG. vliehen, mod.Ger. fliehen), ON. flýa, flýja (with -jo- suffix in pres. stem), str. pa. t. fló, flugom, more commonly inflected weak, pa. t. flýða, pa. pple. flýiðr (Sw. fly, pa. t. flydde, Da. flye, pa. t. flyede), Goth. pliuhan:—OTeut. *pleuhan (inflected plauh, plugum, plogono-). The root (pre-Teut. *tleuk-) has not been found outside Teut. As the original initial p has become f in all the Teut. langs. exc. Gothic, those forms of the vb. which according to Verner’s law change h into g came to coincide with the corresponding forms of *fleugan to FLY; hence in all these langs. the two vbs. have been more or less confused together.
In OE. the vb. was, so far as is known, always strong. The str. pa. t. and pa. pple. survived in occasional use down to the 15th c.; but in the 13th c. the weak pa. t. fledde, pa. pple. fled(d began to be used, and soon became more common than the earlier forms. Their origin is obscure: normally, they would imply an inf. flede(n, and one instance of flede inf., with the sense ‘to flee,’ has been found in 15th c.; but little stress can be laid on this, on account of the late date, and the possibility that the form may have been invented by the writer for the sake of rime, on the analogy of the pa. t. fledde (for which Caxton has fleded). Identification with FLEDE to flow or flood seems impossible on account of the difference in sense. Some have compared flede with the Du. form vlieden; but the Du. practice of inserting a euphonic d in vbs. with roots ending in h (as in belijden, wijden, vleiden) is peculiar to that lang. (first appearing in late MDu.), and has no parallel in Eng.; further, the Du. vb., in spite of its alteration in form, is still conjugated strong; hence it seems probable that the resemblance between the Du. and Eng. forms is purely accidental. The resemblance of ME. fledde to Sw. flydde may possibly be more significant. In MSw. those vbs. which, in consequence of contraction, had their present stems ending in a long vowel, formed their past tense in -dde for the earlier -pe; the change, according to Noreen, dates, so far as the spelling is concerned, from about 1350; it may however have occurred much earlier in some East Scandinavian dialect. The supposition that ME. fledde may be of Scandinavian origin is supported by the fact that the earliest examples are chiefly from writers whose dialect is strongly marked by Scandinavian influence; on the other hand, it occurs as early as 1340 in the Kentish dialect of the Ayenbite.
The confusion between the vbs. flee and fly occurs already in OE. In northern dialects the form flee is the normal phonetic descendant both of OE. fléon to flee and of fléoȝan to fly. In mod. Eng. the association of the two vbs. has the curious result that the ordinary prose equivalent of L. fugere is fly with pa. t. and pa. pple. fled (the forms flew, flown have only the sense of L. volare), while flee has become archaic, being confined to more or less rhetorical or poetic diction. Even fly and fled, indeed, now belong rather to literary than to colloquial English: expressions like ‘run away’ being substituted in familiar speech.]
A. Forms.
1. Present stem. α. 1 Inf. (ȝe)fléon, flíon, (north. fléa); pr. t. 1st pers. fléo, (Mercian fléom), 2nd pers. flíhst, 3rd pers. flíhð, (north. flíð, fléð), pl. fléoð, (north. fléað); 3 inf. flæen, pr. t. 3rd pers. flihþ, flioþ, fliȝt, imper. fli(h, fliȝ, south. vlih, 3–4 fléo-n, (3 flo), flei, 3–5 flee-n, 4 south. vle-n, vlee-n, 3–6 fle, 6 fley, 3– flee.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiii. § 2. He … flihþ ða wædle.
a. 1000. Boeth. Metr., vii. 30 (Gr.).
| He sceal swiðe flion | |
| þisse worulde wlite. |
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 162. Arseni, flih men. Ibid., 208. Vlih þer urommard, er þu beo iattred.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in Cott. Hom., 203. Hwuder schal ich fleon hwon þe deouel hunteð efter me bute to þine rode.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 176. Wei fiȝt that wel fliȝt.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2818 (Cott.). Þe angls badd loth do him flee. Ibid., 4310 (Cott.). Þou do þe stallworthli to flei.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 39. Þei went egrely, & did þo kynges fle.
1340. Ayenb., 41. Oþer huanne me draȝþ þo out þet vleþ to holy cherche.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Compl. Mars, 104.
| He may not holde with Venus companye, | |
| But bad her fleen, lest Phebus her espye. |
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 3901. He not wyder flene.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. XXI. 346. ‘Ich rede we fleo,’ quath the feond · ‘faste alle hennes.’
1556. Aurelio & Isab., F v. It that you fley be the daye, you showe to desire it the nighte.
β. 5 flede.
c. 1450. Myrc, 1374.
| Wythowte werke or fleschly dede | |
| Þy chastyte from þe doth flede. |
2. Past tense. α. 1 fléah, fléh, 3 fleah, flæh, (south. 2 vleh, 4 vleaȝ), 4–5 flagh(e, (also rarely as pl.), 3–4 flei, fleih, fleiȝ, fleigh (rarely as pl.), fley, fleȝ(h.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, cxiii. [cxiv.], 3. Sae ȝeseah & fleh.
a. 1000. Boeth. Metr., i. 20 (Gr.).
| Fleah casere | |
| mid þam æðelingum ut on Crecas. |
c. 1200. Ormin, 823. He flæh till wesste fra þe follc.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 16.
| Wes Maxence ouercumen & fleah | |
| into Alixandre. |
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 160. He fleih his holi kun icoren of ure Louerde.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 430. Caym fro him [adam] fleȝ.
1340. Ayenb., 129. Þet hette agar þo hi uleaȝ uram hare lheuedi.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 7591 (Trin.).
| Þere were mony felde to grounde | |
| And mony fley wiþ deþes wounde. |
1382. Wyclif, Ps. cxiv. 3. The se saȝ and fleiȝ.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 189. Þat prince sauede men þat fleigh to hym in schippes and bootes.
a. 1400. Octouian, 1149.
| But Florentyn yaf hym swych a dent | |
| As he forth fleȝh, | |
| That the geaunt to grounde ys went | |
| Theyȝh he wer heyȝh. |
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 6001. As þai flaghe in the filde.
β. 3 fleu, 3, 6 flew(e, 4 flewgh. [Common to this vb. with FLY; ? influenced by str. pa. t. of FLOW.]
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 18. Þe kyng with a fewe men hymself flew at the laste. Ibid. (1724), 258. He fleu [printed flen] wyþ muche wo.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 412. Crist lerned Seynt Poule to travel wiþ his hondis, and flewȝh suche beggynge, in hym and his folowers.
γ. plural. 1 fluȝon, -un, 2–4 fluȝen, (3 fluȝhen, Orm. -enn, fluhen, flue), 3 flu(w)en, south. vluwen, 3–5 floȝen, floghen (hence 5 flogh as sing.), 4 floun, 3–5 flowe(n.
c. 950. Lindisfarne Gospels, Matt. xxvi. 56. Alle … ȝefluȝun.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Mark v. 14. Soþlice þa ðe hi heoldon fluȝon.
c. 1200. Ormin, 893. Baþe fluȝhenn fra þe folc.
c. 1203. Lay., 1845. Þa eatendes fluȝen [c. 1275, flowen].
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 106. His deore deciples fluen alle vrom him. Ibid., 392. His deciples, þet schulden stonden bi him, and i-beon his siden, vluwen alle urom him.
a. 1225. Juliana, 52. Þat ter fluhen monie.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 861. On of hem, ðe floȝen a-wei.
c. 1300. Beket, 2131.
| As hit bi oure Louerd furde: tho the Gywes him nome, | |
| His disciples flowe anon: he nuste whar hi bicome. |
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xxxiii. 3. Fro the vois of the aungil floun puples.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 4732. The ffrigies floghen and the fild leuyt. Ibid., 11969. Ecuba the honerable egerly flogh.
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 822. As thay flowen toward the felde.
δ. 4–7 fledd(e, 4 south. vledde, 5 fleded, fleede, 6–7 flet, 7 Sc. flaid, 4– fled. plural. 3–4 ? flededen, 4–5 fleden, fledden, -on.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 2441.
| So heo ferden so deor in halle; | |
| And flodeden [? read flededen], so faren in feld. |
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 88. Malcolme … fled for ferd.
1340. Ayenb., 206. He him uledde ase wys and hise uorlet.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, I. 178.
| And hir yonge sone Iulo, | |
| And eke Sskanius also, Fleden eke with drery chere. |
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1431. Thane þe Bretons … fleede to þe foreste.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1349. The Troiens … ffleddon in fere and þe filde leuyt.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxxi. 118. Dedalus, that fleded to there for fere of the kynge Mynos of Crete.
1497. Wriothesley, Chron. (1875), I. 3. Perkin Werbeck landed in Cornewale, and by pursuit fledd to Bowdley St. Marie.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, I. III. lxvii. But what could well be sav’d to Simon flet.
3. Pa. pple. α. 1 floȝen, 2 fluȝen, 3 ifloȝen, south. ivlowen, 3–4 yflowe(n, 4–5 flowe(n, -yn, iflowen, (4 flawen).
c. 1205. Lay., 4764. Brennes wes awæi ifloȝen.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 168. Ȝe habbeð þene world ivlowen.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 311. Of scaped he was & yflowe.
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 470. For-þi Ich am of londe i-flowen.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., C. 214. He watȝ flawen fro þe face of frelych dryȝtyn.
a. 1300. Cursor Mundi, 16743 (Laud). His appostils wern flowyn hym fro.
a. 1400[?]. Arthur, 579. And how Mordred was flow.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 387. He nolde not for þe crosse han flowe.
β. 4 fledd, flede, -eed, 5 fledde, 4– fled.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17554 (Cott.). He … es vnto þe felles fledd.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 2301.
| And the emperour was fled away, | |
| Himself alone, or it was day. |
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 290. Fleed of men as disceyt of þe fend.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2488. Thedyre feemene are flede.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxii. 188. Þis fende þat nowe is fledde.
1539. Bible (Great), Acts xvi. 27. Supposing that the presoners had bene fledde [1557 (Geneva), 1582 (Rheims) and 1611: fled].
B. Significations.
I. intr.
1. To run away from or as from danger; to take flight; to try to escape or seek safety by flight. Also, to flee away, out, and to flee for it.
c. 825. [see A. 2].
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. viii. 33. Ða hyrdas witodlice fluȝon.
c. 1205. Lay., 5564.
| & swiðe monie þer fluwen | |
| & ferden to Rome. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2614 (Cott.). Sco was fain to fle a-wai.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 2303.
| Flowen was that fals coward; | |
| Narrow him sought Kyng Richard. |
c. 1340. Cursor M., 9213 (Trin.). Þe kyng fley out bi nyȝt.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10077. The grekes flowen in fere & the feld leuyt.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., II. xxxvii. 155. They shall make as they dyde flee.
1559. Mirr. Mag., Mortimers, xx.
| But I dispised the naked Irish men, | |
| And, for they flew, I feared them the lesse. |
1605. Camden, Rem., 216. There should no horned beast abide in that wood, one that had in his forehead a bounch of flesh, fledde away a great pase.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 80, 13 Oct., ¶ 3. My Confusion at last was so great, that without speaking, or being spoken to, I fled for it, and left the Assembly to treat me at their Discretion.
1847. G. P. R. James, J. Marston Hall, I. ix. 100. Some of the guards were felled to the earth; some of them fled as fast as their legs would carry them.
1884. F. M. Crawford, Rom. Singer (1886), I. 90. A hundred women will tell you that they are ready to flee with you.
Proverb.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 176. ‘Wel fiȝt that wel fliȝt,’ seith the wise.
13[?]. Prov. Hendyng, ix., in Rel. Ant., I. 111. ‘Wel fytht, that wel flyth’ Quoth Hendyng.
b. Const. † forth of, from, out of.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, lxvii[i]. 2. Feond his & flen from onsiene his.
1154. O. E. Chron., an. 1137. Sume fluȝen ut of lande.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 430. Caym fro him [adam] fleȝ.
c. 1450. Myrc, 1681.
| Ȝef he haue grace in herte to se | |
| How aungelus, when he ys wroth, | |
| From hym faste flen and goth. |
1550. Crowley, The Last Trumpet, 29.
| And when Elias fled away | |
| From Ahab and quene Iesabel, | |
| The rauens fed him by the way, | |
| As the story of Kinges doeth tel. |
1564. Haward, Eutropius, VII. 69. He [Nero] fled forthe of his palaice.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., II. iv. 248. The Rogue fled from me like Quick-siluer.
1611. Bible, Job xx. 24. He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steele shall strike him through.
c. Conjugated with be.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3396.
| Ȝet sal ðe kinde of amalech | |
| Ben al fled dun in deades wrech. |
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 2223.
| Tristrem was fled oway, | |
| To wite, and nought to wene; | |
| At Londen on a day, | |
| Mark wald spourge the quen. |
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxxii. 250. Whan he [pyers] was fledde oute of spayn.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 479.
| And mony berne into the toun wes bred, | |
| And mony freik out of the feild wes fled. |
1671. H. M., trans. Colloq. Erasmus, 543. He won by an assault a strong defenced Castle, whereinto the Lady great with child was fled.
† d. refl.; also quasi-trans., to flee one’s way.
c. 1205. Lay., 16078. Ah flih flih þinne wæi.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5680 (Gött.). Moyses … fledd him into madian. Ibid. (c. 1340), 7676 (Fairf.). He him fled to samuel.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VIII. vii. Syr Marhaus rose grouelynge and threwe his swerd and his shelde from hym and soo ranne to his shippes and fledde his waye.
1535. Coverdale, Judith xv. 3. As for the Assirians, they had no ordre, and kepte not them selues together, but fled their waye.
2. To hasten for safety or protection (to, † on).
Beowulf, 764 (Gr.).
| Mynte se mæra, hwær he meahte … | |
| on weȝ þanon | |
| fleon on fenhopu. |
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, cxlii[i]. 9. Dryhten to ðe ic ȝefleh.
c. 1205. Lay., 16080. Fleo þider þe þu fleo.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 6675 (Cott.). Þof he to mine auter flei.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. III. 220. Falsnesse for fere þo flegh to þe freres.
1535. Coverdale, Zech. xiv. 5. Ye shall fle vnto the valley of my hilles.
1678. Tillotson, Sermons (ed. 3), I. 64. We can have no hopes of relief or comfort but from God alone; none in all the world to fle [ed. 1671, p. 64, flye] to, but Him.
1718. Prior, Solomon, III. 482.
| In vain for Life He to the Altar fled: | |
| Ambition and Revenge have certain Speed. |
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 176. The Presbyterians, in extreme distress and terror, fled to the foot of the throne, and pleaded their recent services and the royal faith solemnly and repeatedly plighted.
1858. M. Porteous, Souter Johnny, 30.
| Or silly mortal blinks an ee | |
| To muckle Jupiter ye’ll flee. |
† b. refl. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5680 (Gött.). Moises … fled him into madian.
1600. Holland, Livy, XLIV. vi. (1609), 1174 b. The king … made open passage for the current of war, & fled himselfe to Pydna.
1610. Healey, St. Augustine, Of the Citie of God (1620), 143. But those that are now so ready with their saucy insults against Christianity, of late either fled themselves into such places as were dedicated to Christ, or else were brought thither by the barbarians.
† c. To have recourse to. Obs.
1563. Homilies, II., Agst. Idolatry, III. (1859), 220. They … flee to this aunswere, that [etc.].
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 270. The servants and others fled to their swords, and so plyed the Wolf with wounds, that they laid him on the ground, and hurt in several places.
3. To withdraw hastily, take oneself off, go away. Also with away. Const. from, out of. Also, To swerve from (a commandment); to keep free from (a practice).
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, cxxxviii[i]. 7. From onsiene ðinre hwider fleom ic.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 127. On his ȝuweðe he fleh fro folke to weste.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 501.
| The pope of alle her sunnes asoileth all the | |
| Clerkes & lewede, that fram thi seruise wolle fle. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 9815 (Trin.).
| His hert auȝte bettur breke in þre | |
| þen fro his biddyngis to fle. |
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1306, Dido.
| I am a gentil woman, and a queene; | |
| Ye wol nat fro your wyf thus foule fleene! |
c. 1440. Partonope, 4880.
| A straunger to yow and no thyng kynne | |
| Thys made me vtterly fro yow fleene. |
1611. Bible, Gen. xxxi. 27. Wherefore didst thou flee away secretly, and steale away from me, and didst not tell me? that I might haue sent thee away with mirth, and with songs, with tabret, and with harpe.
1717. Pope, Eloisa, 131.
| From the false world in early youth they fled, | |
| By thee to mountains, wilds, and deserts led. |
1820. Keats, Eve St. Agnes, xlii.
| And they are gone: ay, ages long ago | |
| These lovers fled away into the storm. |
1848. Mrs. Jameson, Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850), 193. Two years later he [Chrysostom] fled from society, and passed five or six years in the wilderness near Antioch, devoting himself solely to the study of the Scriptures, to penance and prayer; feeding on the wild vegetables, and leading a life of such rigorous abstinence that his health sank under it, and he was obliged to return to Antioch.
† b. To depart this life.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20260 (Gött.). Hu sal we liue quen þu will fle!
4. To make one’s escape, get safely away.
a. 1300. Cursor M. 7755 (Cott.). Þar þai fell þat moght not fle.
c. 1300. Havelok, 1882.
| Gripeth ether unker a god tre, | |
| And late we nouth thise doges fle. |
1382. Wyclif, Acts xvi. 27. Wenynge the boundyn men for to haue fled.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems, 186.
| He is a fole that scaped is daunger, | |
| And broken his fedres and fled is fro prisoun. |
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 963.
| Flie thither whence thou [Satan] fledst: if from this houre | |
| Within these hallowd limits thou appeer, | |
| Back to th’ infernal pit I drag thee chaind. |
1821. Shelley, Epips., 272.
| Then, as a hunted deer that could not flee, | |
| I turned upon my thoughts, and stood at bay, | |
| Wounded and weak and panting. |
5. To pass away quickly and suddenly; to disappear, vanish. Also with away.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 175. He is fleonde alse shadewe and ne stont neure on one stede.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12075 (Cott.).
| And son þe spirit þat was fledd | |
| Again come in þat ilk stede. |
1382. Wyclif, Rev. xvi. 20. And ech ijle fley awey and hilles ben not founde.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 138.
| With the Swallowe so swyft, in speciale expremit | |
| The Papis harrald, at poynt in to present, | |
| For he is forthwart to fle. |
1639. Massinger, Unnat. Combat, V. ii.
| Malef. Take not thy flight so soon, immaculate spirit! | |
| ’Tis fled already. |
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, I. 51.
| Think not, when woman’s transient breath is fled, | |
| That all her vanities at once are dead. |
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. vii. 199. To the undiscerning eye of the vulgar, Philip appeared a monarch no less powerful than Hadrian or Augustus had formerly been. The form was still the same, but the animating health and vigour were fled.
1818. Shelley, Rev. Islam, V. xliii. 6.
| As I approached, the morning’s golden mist, | |
| Which now the wonder-stricken breezes kist | |
| With their cold lips, fled. |
1850. Elder’s House, 215.
| Strew flowers upon the bier, pale flowers, | |
| Whose life and bloom are fled. |
1886. A. Winchell, Walks & Talks in Geol. Field, 214. This vast empire of world-stuff rotates, but a million of years may flee away before one revolution is completed.
6. Occasionally used for FLY (= volare). (Often in Shelley.)
Examples of the present stem from dialect literature (Sc. and northern Eng.) are not given here, as in them flee is the regular form of FLY. In recent instances, the use of flee for fly is chiefly for the sake of rime, or to produce a sort of archaistic effect; in older writers it may be due variously to confusion between the two vbs., to adoption of dialectal phrases (esp. in ‘to let flee’), or to a development from sense 5.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom. (Th.), I. 142. Culfran … lufiað annysse, and fleoð him floccmælum.
1382. Wyclif, Jer. xlviii. 40. As an egle he shall fleen out, and strecchen out his wengus to Moab.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xxii. 238. The Tronchouns flen in sprotes and peces alle aboute the Halle.
1553. T. Wilson, Rhet. (1580), 211. He lette flee at hym like a Dragon.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 947.
| Loues golden arrow at him should haue fled, | |
| And not deaths ebon dart to strike him dead. |
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. II. Babylon, 221.
| (Another bids) and then they cleave a Tree: | |
| Make fast this rope, and then they let it flee. |
1612. J. Davies, Muse’s Sacr., Wks. (Grosart), II. 75/1.
| At which forthwith he [the Libard] flees, | |
| And piece-meale teares it. |
1770. J. Love, Cricket, 5.
| Where, much divided between Fear and Glee, | |
| The Youth cries Rub; O Flee, you Ling’rer, Flee! |
1815. Shelley, Alastor, 358.
| The boat fled on | |
| With unrelaxing speed. | |
| Ibid. (1821), Ginevra, 211. | |
| The dark arrow fled | |
| In the noon. |
II. trans.
7. To run away from, hasten away from; to quit abruptly, forsake (a person or place, etc.).
a. 1000. Andreas, 1540 (Gr.).
| Wæs him ut myne | |
| fleon fealone stream. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14884 (Cott.). He folus þaim and þai him fle.
1386. Rolls of Parlt., III. 225/1. Destruyd the Kynges trewe lyges, som with open slaughtre, some be false emprisonement, and some fledde the Citee for feere.
1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VI., 95. Straungers in great nombre fled the land.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. i. 19.
| So fled his Enemies my Warlike Father. | |
| Ibid. (1597), 2 Hen. IV., I. i. 18. | |
| Yong Prince Iohn, | |
| And Westmerland, and Stafford, fled the Field. |
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. ii. I. Ark, 43.
| Which, toward the sea, the more he [a River] flees his source, | |
| Wth growning streams strengthens his gliding course. |
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 3. A Barbarian man of warre at Sun-rising came asterne of vs, but vpon better view he feared and fled vs.
1647–8. Cotterell, Davila’s Hist. Fr. (1678), 21. He was forced to flee his Country.
1726. Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 130. All his Attendants had fled his Presence, at the Notice of his having on his yellow Vest.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, IX. xxxix.
| Soul-strunk, she rushed away; | |
| She fled the Place of Tombs; | |
| She cast herself upon the earth, | |
| All agony and tumult and despair. |
fig. c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 4786.
| If thou flee it, it shal flee thee; | |
| Folowe it, and folowen shal it thee. |
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. i. 132.
| Now at the last, that fled ws euer moir, | |
| The forther cost of Itaile haif we caucht. |
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 291. All temptacyons fledde theyr holynesse.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. xxxix.
| When Fortune fled her spoil’d and favourite child, | |
| He stood unbow’d beneath the ills upon him piled. |
1882. Stevenson, New Arab. Nts. (1884), 130. Even after he had resumed a recumbent attitude sleep continued to flee him, and he lay awake with his brain in a state of violent agitation.
8. In weaker sense: To avoid with dread or dislike; to eschew, shun. Occas. in passive; also † with infin. as obj.
a. 1000. Boeth. Metr., vii. 30 (Gr.).
| He sceal swiðe flion | |
| þisse worulde wlite. |
c. 1200. Ormin, 8056. Þa flæh I childess cosstess.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 127. He fleȝ here ferrede.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1951 (Gött.).
| If þu will trou apon mi rede, | |
| Fle falshed and theft as dede. |
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, i. 1. His verray lufers folous him, fleand honur.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Monk’s T., 265.
| Fro hir childhod I fynde that sche fledde | |
| Office of wommen, and to woode sche went. |
a. 1400[?]. Cato’s Morals, 55, in Cursor M., App. iv. 1670.
| Fle to take wife | |
| to lede wiþ þi life | |
| bot ho be honest. |
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 59. A wood hound fleeþ mete & water.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, xv. 100. An angry man þat is wretthfull owyth to be fled as a raveynous dogge.
1550. Crowley, Epigr., 665.
| Emonge wyttye saiynges, | |
| this precept I finde, | |
| To auoid and fle dice (mi son) | |
| haue euer in mynde. |
1563. Homilies, II., Agst. Idolatry, III. (1859), 230. Aungels flee to take vnto them by sacrelege the honoure dewe to God.
1766. Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wom. (1767), II. xi. 159. Flee them, my fair pupils, flee them with horror, as tempters and ravagers at the same instant.
1818. Shelley, Rosalind, 41.
| I would flee | |
| Thy tainting touch. |
9. To contrive to avoid, save oneself from, escape from, evade. Now rare.
c. 1200. Ormin, 9803.
| He tahhte hemm hu þeȝȝ mihhtenn fleon | |
| Drihhtiness irre. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3001 (Cott.). Your harm sa wend i best to fle. Ibid. (c. 1340), 22503 (Fairf.). For to flee þe dai of awe.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 108/2. I … haue long fléene the hands of mine enemies.
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 782.
| On Death’s white and wingèd steed, | |
| Which the fleetest cannot flee, | |
| Trampling down both flower and weed, | |
| Man and beast, and foul and fair, | |
| Like a tempest through the air. |
