take flight

1. Also, take wing. Run away, flee, go away, as in When the militia arrived, the demonstrators took flight, or The tenant took wing before paying the rent. The first idiom derives from the earlier take one's flight, dating from the late 1300s, and was first recorded in 1435. The variant was first recorded in 1704.

Example Sentences

A British red kite emerges from an aviary in the remote hills of western Spain and takes flight.

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And when a flock of ducks passed overhead, Brightbill and Glimmer took flight to see what was going on.

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Staff at Paradise Park in Hayle, Cornwall, said the young flamingo, called Frankie, had taken flight from the walled garden at the park on Sunday morning, despite it having clipped feathers.

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When they did take flight, their attacks were brief -- most lasted under three minutes, and the average hunting flight just eight seconds.

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"I was in the sky once more, like a bird taking flight for the last time. When I landed and stepped out of the cockpit, I felt completely content."

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Related Words

• abandon 
• depart 
• die 
• die out 
• dissipate 
• dissolve 
• escape 
• evaporate 
• expire 
• fade 
• flee 
• fly 
• go 
• leave 
• melt 
• perish 
• recede 
• retire 
• retreat 
• sink