French leave

American  

[french leev] / ˈfrɛntʃ ˈliv /

noun

1. Sometimes Offensive. a departure without saying goodbye, asking permission, or giving notice.

   During the Civil War, many men deserted or took French leave.

   Early in the wedding reception I had to take French leave to address a family crisis.

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French leave British  

noun

1. an unauthorized or unannounced absence or departure

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Etymology

Origin of French leave

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

My efforts at French leave me at once inert and exhausted, as though I’ve been dog-paddling in a pool of standing water.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 1, 2016

Spain sent Pedro Menéndez de Avilés to make the French leave Florida.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2012

This time Father Claude Rains is a sort of early-bird Enoch Arden, vagabonding back to mother and the girls after 20 years of French leave just as mother is fixing to marry again.

From Time Magazine Archive

The uproar began when Paris discovered that the gunboats and their Israeli crews had taken French leave of their fitting-out berths in Cherbourg.

From Time Magazine Archive

Consequently a vigilant watch was kept by the officers of ships, lest any of the crew should take French leave, although getting ashore was difficult.

From The Log of a Sea-Waif Being Recollections of the First Four Years of My Sea Life by Bullen, Frank T.