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the wheel in an escapement (as of a clock or a watch) into the teeth of which the pallets play.

One who has narrowly escaped the gallows for his crimes. [Colloq.] Dickens.

hose head were symbolically placed the sins of the people, after which he was suffered to escape into the wilderness. Lev. xvi. 10.

Same as Escapement, 3.

Do as much for this purpose, and thou shalt pass scot-free. Sir W. Scott. Then young Hay escaped scot-free to Holland. A. Lang.

To become dry and hard, by the escape of the natural juices, or by being penetrated with other substance; as, timber seasons in the sun.

something else, by a chain or a strap; a gyve; a fetter. His shackles empty left; himself escaped clean. Spenser.

To avoid; to escape; to neglect; -- implying unfaithfulness or fraud; as, to shirk duty. The usual makeshift by which they try to shirk difficulties. Hare.

To avoid; to keep clear of; to get out of the way of; to escape from; to eschew; as, to shun rocks, shoals, vice. I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Acts xx. 26,27. Scarcity and want shall shun you. Shak.

A valve permitting a fluid under pressure an easier avenue of escape than normally; specif., a valve, actuated by the governor, used in one system of marine-engine governing to connect both ends of the low-pressure cylinder as a supplementary control.

An artful trick; sly artifice; a feat so dexterous that the manner of performance escapes observation. The world hath many subtle sleights. Latimer.

To depart, withdraw, enter, appear, intrude, or escape as if by sliding; to go or come in a quiet, furtive manner; as, some errors slipped into the work. Thus one tradesman slips away, To give his partner fairer play. Prior. Thrice the flitting shadow slipped away. Dryden.

Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble; skillful; cautious; shrewd; knowing; -- in a good sense. Be ye sly as serpents, and simple as doves. Wyclif (Matt. x. 16). Whom graver age And long experience hath made wise and sly. Fairfax.

The visible exhalation, vapor, or substance that escapes, or expelled, from a burning body, especially from burning vegetable matter, as wood, coal, peat, or the like.

pening into the atmosphere from the cylinder or condenser of a steam engine, to allow the escape of air when the piston makes a stroke; -- so called from the noise made by its action.

ch degree; -- used correlatively with as or that following; as, he was so fortunate as to escape. I viewed in may mind, so far as I was able, the beginning and progress of a rising world. T. Burnet. He is very much in Sir Roger's esteem, so that he lives in the family rather as a relation than dependent. Addison.…

nstinct with music, vocal spark. Wordsworth. Spark arrester, a contrivance to prevent the escape of sparks while it allows the passage of gas, -- chiefly used in the smokestack of a wood-burning locomotive. Called also spark consumer. [U.S.]

roving your one talent, to enrich your whole capital as a man. It is in this way that you escape from the wretched narrow- mindedness which is the characteristic of every one who cultivates his speciality. Ld. Lytton. We 'll say, instead, the inconsequent creature man, -For that'a his speciality. Mrs. Browning. Think o…

To sit close to the ground; to cower; to stoop, or lie close, to escape observation, as a partridge or rabbit.

To escape or stretch beyond proper limits, as the branches of a plant; to spread widely apart; to shoot too far or widely in growth. Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out. Mortimer.