take French leave

Verb

take French leave (third-person singular simple present takes French leave, present participle taking French leave, simple past took French leave, past participle taken French leave)

1. (dated, idiomatic, informal, intransitive) To leave quietly and unnoticed, without asking for permission or informing anyone; to slip out.
   • As for Ditton, after all his courting, and his compliment, he ſtole avvay an Iriſhman's bride, and took a French leave of me and his maſter; […]1771, [Tobias Smollett], “To Mrs. Mary Jones, at Brambleton-hall”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker […], volume II, London: […] W. Johnston, […]; and B. Collins, […], →OCLC, page 226
   • Thus through the vveary vvatch of ſleepleſs night, / This learned ploughman plods in piteous plight; / Till the dim taper takes French leave to doze, / And the fat folio tumbles on his toes.1797 July 20 (date delivered), Thomas Paine [i.e., Robert Treat Paine], The Ruling Passion: An Occasional Poem. […], Boston, Mass.: […] Manning & Loring, for the author, published 1797, →OCLC, page 10

   Synonyms:

   duck out, sneak out

2. (dated, euphemistic, idiomatic, informal, intransitive, specifically) To desert or be temporarily absent from duty or service without permission; to go absent without leave (AWOL).
   • That officer […] reminded Burton of the necessity there was that all the officers of the Spitfire should hold themselves in readiness, as a court-martial was sure to be ordered relative to the loss of that ship: that order might possibly be telegraphed down, and he must therefore decline granting...1829, [William Nugent Glascock], “The Return”, in Sailors and Saints; or, Matrimonial Manœuvres. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, pages 222–223
   • In spite of threats and punishment, many Canadians [in the French army] 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.1908, Elroy McKendree Avery, “Wolfe and Saunders before Quebec”, in A History of the United States and Its People from Their Earliest Records to the Present Time, volume IV, Cleveland, Ohio: The...