Dictionary Definitions
Departure:
The act of leaving
A starting out, as on a trip or a new course of action.
A divergence or deviation, as from an established rule, plan, or procedure: ordered curry as a departure from his usual bland diet.
Nautical
The distance sailed due east or west by a ship on its course
The act or an instance of departing
A deviation or variation from previous custom; divergence
A project, course of action, venture, etc. selling is a new departure for him
(Transport / Nautical Terms) Nautical
The net distance travelled due east or west by a vessel
Also called point of departure the latitude and longitude of the point from which a vessel calculates dead reckoning
A euphemistic word for death
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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.
The alternative was to go to jail, or as the phrase is, to cut and run. (H. H. Brackenridge, Modern Chivalry, 1815)
‘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):
It is time that I should hoist my “blue Peter,”
And sail for a new theme.
‘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.
I’d a made him make tracks, I guess. (Thomas Haliburton, Clockmaster, 1835)
‘Pull up stakes’, To move or relocate; to leave one’s job, home, etc., for another part of the country.
They just pulled up stakes and left for parts unknown. (The New Orleans Times-Picayune Magazine, April, 1950)
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.
I then paid off my lodgings, and “shaking the dust from my feet,” bid a long adieu to London. (Frances Burney, Cecilia, 1782)
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:
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
‘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.
I fell off three times; finally the disgusted critter took to the tall timber, leaving me to hike onward and to get across the frigid stream as best I could. (Sky Line Trail, October 18, 1949)
Variants of this expression include break or strike or pull for tall timber.
