bird has flown, the

Idioms  

1. The individual sought has gone away, as in Jean hoped to meet her editor at long last, but when she arrived the bird had flown. This idiom has been used for an escaped prisoner, and more generally, as in 1655 by William Gurnall (The Christian in Complete Armour): “Man ... knows not his time ... he comes when the bird is flown.” [Mid-1600s]

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Example Sentences

Phr. the bird has flown the coop. <— p.

From Roget's Thesaurus by Roget, Peter Mark

“The bird has flown: the young man is no longer about the place.”

From Wood Rangers The Trappers of Sonora by Reid, Mayne