fleon

From Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną. Cognate with Old Frisian fliā, Old Saxon fliohan, Old Dutch flian, Old High German fliohan, Old Norse flýja, Gothic 𐌸𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌷𐌰𐌽 (þliuhan).

• IPA^(key): /fle͜oːn/

flēon

1. to flee
   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Saint Augustine's Soliloquies

     ...ac onfōh mē nū þīnne āgene þēawa, for ic eom flēonde fram hym.

     ...but do Thou receive me now, Thine own servant, for I am fleeing from them.

2. to run away, run from, escape

   Mid þē sind þā þing þe þū flīehst.

   The things that you run from are with you.

   • late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy

     God ne ēht nānre wihte, for þȳ hine nān wiht ne mæġ flēon.

     God doesn't chase anything, because nothing can run from him.

3. to avoid

• In the sense of fleeing or running from something, fleon was usually used transitively without a preposition, as in hē flēah þone beran (literally "he fled the bear"). However, uses with fram ("from") are occasionally attested.

• ætflēon
• beflēon

• Middle English: flēn
  • English: flee
  • Scots: flee