escape (redirected from hightail it)

escape

1. a valve that releases air, steam, etc., above a certain pressure; relief valve or safety valve

2. Botany a plant that was originally cultivated but is now growing wild

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escape [i′skāp]

(computer science)

To exit from a program, routine, or mode.

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Escape

Abiathar

only son of Ahimelech to avoid Saul’s slaughter. [O.T.: I Samuel 22:20]

Ariadne

Minos’s daughter; gave Theseus thread by which to escape labyrinth. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 31]

Cerambus

transformed into beetle in order to fly above Zeus’s deluge. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 55]

Christian

flees the City of Destruction. [Br. Lit.: Pilgrim’s Progress]

Daedalus

escaped from Crete by flying on wings made of wax and feathers. [Gk. Myth.: Benét, 244]

Dantès, Edmond

after fifteen years in the Chateau d’If he escapes by being thrown into the sea as another prisoner’s corpse. [Fr. Lit.: Dumas The Count of Monte Cristo]

Deucalion

on Prometheus’ advice, survived flood in ark. [Gk. Myth.: Gaster, 84–85]

Dunkirk

340,000 British troops evacuated against long odds (1941). [Eur. Hist.: Van Doren, 475]

Exodus

Jewish captives escape Pharaoh’s bondage. [O.T.: Exodus]

Fugitive, The

(Dr. Richard Kimble) tale of wrongfully-accused man fleeing imprisonment. [TV: Terrace, I, 290–291]

Hansel and Gretel

woodcutter’s children barely escape witch. [Ger. Fairy Tale: Grimm, 56]

Hegira (Hijrah)

Muhammad’s flight from Mecca to Medina (622). [Islamic Hist.: EB, V: 39–40]

Houdini, Harry

(1874–1926) shackled magician could extricate himself from any entrapment. [Am. Hist.: Wallechinsky, 196]

Ishmael

the only one to escape when the Pequod is wrecked by the white whale. [Am. Lit.: Melville, Moby Dick]

Jim

Miss Watson’s runaway slave; Huck’s traveling companion. [Am. Lit.: Huckleberry Finn]

Jonah

delivered from fish’s belly after three days. [O.T.: Jonah 1, 2]

Noah

with family and animals, escapes the Deluge. [O.T.: Genesis 8:15–19]

Papillon

one of the few to escape from Devil’s Island. [Fr. Hist.: Papillon]

parting of the Red Sea

God divides the waters for Israelites’ flight. [O.T.: Exodus 14:21–29]

Phyxios

epithet of Zeus as god of escape. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 94]

Robin, John, and Harold Hensman

run away from “petticoat government” to live in forest. [Children’s Lit.: Brendon Chase, Fisher, 306]

Strange Cargo

prisoners escape by boat from Devil’s Island, accompanied by a mysterious stranger. [Am. Cinema: Strange Cargo]

Theseus

escapes labyrinth with aid from Ariadne. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 31]

Tyler, Toby

runs away from cruel Uncle Daniel to join circus. [Children’s Lit.: Toby Tyler]

Ziusudra

Sumerian Noah. [Sumerian Legend: Benét, 1116]

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1.	(language)	ESCAPE - An early system on the IBM 650. [Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)].
2.	(character)	escape - (ESC) ASCII character 27. When sent by the user, escape is often used to abort execution or data entry. When sent by the computer it often starts an escape sequence.