(See also ESCAPE.)

cut and run To leave as quickly as possible; to take off without further to-do; in slang terms, to split or cut out. These figurative meanings derive from the nautical use of cut and run which dates from the 18th century. According to a book on sailing entitled Rigging and Seamanship (1794), cut and run means “to cut the cable and make sail instantly, without waiting to weigh anchor.” By extension, this expression can be used to describe any type of quick getaway.

Both nautical and figurative uses are current today.

cut one’s stick To be off, to go away, to depart, to leave; also to cut one’s lucky, although the sense here is more to decamp, to escape. This British slang expression, which dates from the early 19th century, is said to have come from the custom of cutting a walking stick prior to a departure.

do a moonlight flit To leave a hotel or other accommodation without paying the bill. This expression, often used jocularly in England, has a self-evident application and is sometimes applied to any situation in which someone is said to evade his responsibilities.

hoist the blue peter To indicate or advertise that departure is imminent. A “blue peter” is a flag of the International Code of Signals for the letter “P,” used aboard vessels to signal that preparations are being made for departure. A blue flag with a white square in the center, it is a signal for hands on shore to come aboard and for others to conclude business with the crew. It dates from about 1800. By 1823, figurative use of hoist the blue peter gained currency, as exemplified in the following quotation from Byron’s Don Juan (1823):

Blue peter is also the name for a move in whist in which one plays an unnecessarily high card as a call for trumps.

make tracks To leave rapidly; to hotfoot it; to flee or escape. This expression alludes to the trail or tracks created by the passage of human beings or animals through woods, snow, etc. The phrase has been in widespread use since the early 19th century.

pull up stakes To move or relocate; to leave one’s job, home, etc., for another part of the country.

Stakes are sticks or posts used as markers to delimit the boundaries of one’s property. In colonial times, literally pulling up stakes meant that one was giving up one’s land in order to move on, just as driving them in meant that one was laying claim to the enclosed land to set up housekeeping.

shake the dust from one’s feet To depart resolutely from an unpleasant or disagreeable place; to leave in anger, exasperation, or contempt.

The expression, which implies a certain abruptness, is found in Matthew 10:14 where Jesus is speaking to the disciples before sending them out to preach the Word:

take to the tall timber To depart unexpectedly and with little to-do; to escape. Tall timber originally referred to a heavily timbered, uninhabited area in the forest. This colloquial Americanism, often used literally, dates from the early 1800s.

Variants of this expression include break or strike or pull for tall timber.