duck out

Verb

duck out (third-person singular simple present ducks out, present participle ducking out, simple past and past participle ducked out)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To depart quickly or exit abruptly, especially in a manner which does not attract notice and before a meeting, event, etc. has concluded.
   • Wile they was still talking along these lines, the orchestra begin to drool a Perfect Day, so I ducked out on the porch for air.1921, Ring Lardner, Sr., chapter 4, in The Big Town
   • Fearful of missing a roll-call, Representative Charles E. Bennett has ducked out of funerals, bolted from hospital beds and defied snowstorms to get to the House chamber.1991 June 8, Richard Berke, “Sizzling 40-Year Streak Of Never Missing a Vote”, in New York Times, retrieved 26 Nov 2010
2. (idiomatic, transitive) To depart quickly or exit abruptly by way of, especially in a manner which does not attract notice and before a meeting, event, etc. has concluded.
   • The four-term Democrat, known to critics as "King Kevin" and "Mayor De Luxe," has been threatened with recall petitions and recently ducked out the back door of a restaurant to avoid picketers.1981 June 15, “Copious Coping: How Other Mayors Fare”, in Time
3. (idiomatic, intransitive) To move or act so as to achieve avoidance, escape, or evasion.
   • In the one moment he saw his opponent ducking out of his field of vision and the background of white, watching faces; in the next moment he again saw his opponent and the background of faces.1911, Jack London, “A Piece of Steak”, in When God Laughs and Other Stories
   • Congress even now is considering enlarging that deficit by cutting those taxes. . . . It means ducking out of the basic Social Security problem.1978, "Another free lunch" (editorial), St. Petersburg Times (USA), 20 March, p. 10A (retrieved 26 Nov 2010)
4. (slang, transitive) To avoid a debt; to skip out on a bill.