Emily Dickinson Lexicon

ES-CAPE', v.t. [Fr. echapper; Norm. echever; Arm. achap; It. scappare; Sp. and Port. escapar; probably from L. capio, with a negative prefix, or from a word of the same family.]

1. To flee from and avoid; to get out of the way; to shun; to obtain security from; to pass without harm; as, to escape danger. A small number that escape the sword, shall return. Jer. xliv. Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Pet. i.
2. To pass unobserved; to evade; as, the fact escaped my notice or observation.
3. To avoid the danger of; as, to escape the sea. Acts xxviii. Note. This verb is properly intransitive, and in strictness should be followed by from; but usage sanctions the omission of it.