fly the coop

Cultural  

1. To get away or escape: “The Hendersons found the cocktail party rather dull and decided to fly the coop.”

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fly the coop Idioms  

1. Escape, run away, as in After years of fighting with my mother, my father finally flew the coop. This term originally meant “escape from jail,” known as the coop in underworld slang since the late 1700s. [Late 1800s]

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Example Sentences

But the Incorrigibles had already flown the coop, so to speak.

From Literature

As the neutrons and protons fly the coop, they travel as radiation.

From Literature

Big Bear Lake’s famed bald eagle couple has flown the coop, and naturalists are pointing to the city’s July 4th fireworks celebration as the likely culprit.

From Los Angeles Times

The woman hired to take care of it all — who had power of attorney over the property — had flown the coop, neighbors said, along with truckloads of goods.

From Los Angeles Times

But while “eggflation” has calmed temporarily, bird flu has not flown the coop.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• avoid
• depart
• disappear
• dodge
• elude
• emerge
• evade
• flee
• fly
• leave
• run
• slip
• slip away
• vanish