Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ES-CAPE', n.

1. Flight to shun danger or injury; the act of fleeing from danger. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm. Ps. iv.
2. A being passed without receiving injury, as when danger comes near a person, but passes by, and the person is passive. Every soldier who survives a battle has had such an escape.
3. Excuse; subterfuge; evasion. Ralegh.
4. In law, an evasion of legal restraint or the custody of the sherif, without due course of law. Escapes are voluntary or involuntary; voluntary, when an officer permits an offender or debtor to quit his custody, without warrant; and involuntary, or negligent, when an arrested person quits the custody of the officer against his will, and is not pursued forthwith and retaken before the pursuer hath lost sight of him.
5. Sally; flight; irregularity. [Little used.] Shak.
6. Oversight; mistake. [Little used, or improper.]