v.intr.

1. To break loose from confinement; get free: escape from jail.

2. To issue from confinement or enclosure; leak or seep out: Gas was escaping from the vent.

3. To avoid a serious or unwanted outcome: escaped from the accident with their lives.

4. Biology To become established in the wild. Used of a plant or animal.

5. Computers To interrupt a command, exit a program, or change levels within a program by using a key, combination of keys, or key sequence.

v.tr.

1. To succeed in avoiding: The thief escaped punishment.

2. To break loose from; get free of: The spacecraft escaped Earth's gravitational field.

3. To be outside the memory or understanding of; fail to be remembered or understood by: Her name escapes me. The book's significance escaped him.

4. To issue involuntarily from: A sigh escaped my lips.

n.

1. The act or an instance of escaping.

2. A means of escaping.

3. A means of obtaining temporary freedom from worry, care, or unpleasantness: Television is my escape from worry.

4. A gradual effusion from an enclosure; a leakage.

5. Biology A cultivated plant or a domesticated or confined animal that has become established in the wild.

6. Computers A key used especially to interrupt a command, exit a program, or change levels within a program.