> as lemmas

1658 W. Prynne Plea for Lords 372 A fine was assessed by the House on every Member that was absent without leave.

1743 H. Bland Abstr. Mil. Discipline (1969) iii. 31 Whenever the Regiment is drawn out, no Officer must be absent without Leave.

1797 Ld. Nelson 29 Mar. in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) III. 7 Five or six men absent without leave, who can not be ‘Run’ on the Ship's books, not having been absent three musters.

1832 Times 16 Jan. 2/1 The Chamber of Representatives met yesterday, when it appeared that there were 39 members absent without leave, and only 51 present.

1889 MacMillan's Mag. Dec. 154/1 I shall have to give him twenty-eight days' confinement at least for being absent without leave.

1918 Red Cross Bull. 28 Oct. 9/3 (heading) Home Service workers to aid Army in solution of the absent-without-leave problem.

1956 M. Dickens Angel in Corner viii. 128 They wouldn't let him go to see her, so he went absent without leave, and of course that lost him his chance.

1973 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 13 July 17 She said her husband, since being put on absent-without-leave status from his Omaha job, has spent his days doing some legal work.

1993 Army Lawyer Oct. 22 The accused's defense to an absent without leave charge (AWOL) that he suffered from amnesia during the absent period.

2007 Liverpool Echo (Nexis) 20 Aug. 3 Around 1,200 military personnel remain on the run after deserting over the last 10 years. Most are male soldiers who have gone absent without leave for family reasons.