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egress

[noun ee-gres; verb ih-gres]
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noun
  1. the act or an instance of going, especially from an enclosed place.
  2. a means or place of going out; an exit.
  3. the right or permission to go out.
  4. Astronomy. emersion(def 1).
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verb (used without object)
  1. to go out; emerge.
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Origin of egress

1530–40; < Latin ēgressus going out, escape, equivalent to ēgred(ī) to go out (ē- e-1 + -gredī, combining form of gradī to go, step; cf. grade) + -tus suffix of v. action
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for egress

Historical Examples

  • It had been broken off, and this means of egress was unavailable.

    The Dare Boys of 1776

    Stephen Angus Cox

  • The waters of the great deep have ingress and egress to the soul.

    Essays, First Series

    Ralph Waldo Emerson

  • There were for a few days much hurry and bustle, both of egress and of ingress.

  • The serpent, not finding an egress in the cavern, might return the same way it had gone.

  • But it soon became certain that there was no egress from this gullet.

British Dictionary definitions for egress

egress

noun (ˈiːɡrɛs)
  1. Also called: egression the act of going or coming out; emergence
  2. a way out, such as a path; exit
  3. the right or permission to go out or depart
  4. astronomy another name for emersion (def. 2)
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verb (ɪˈɡrɛs) (intr)
  1. to go forth; issue
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Word Origin

C16: from Latin ēgredī to come forth, depart, from gradī to move, step
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for egress

n.

1530s, from Latin egressus "a going out," noun use of past participle of egredi "go out," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + -gredi, comb. form of gradi "step, go" (see grade). Perhaps a back-formation from egression (early 15c.).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper