[Andrew Frisardi]

Does anyone have a sense of how the verb to abscond can be used?

I find this in Webster’s: “to depart secretly and hide oneself.”

And:

1. To hide, withdraw, or be concealed.
The marmot absconds all winter. —Ray.
2. To depart clandestinely; to steal off and secrete one's self; -- used especially of persons who withdraw to avoid a legal process; as, an absconding debtor.
That very homesickness which, in regular armies, drives so many recruits to abscond. —Macaulay.

But some other dictionaries say that it involves taking something along with you, running from the law, etc., as in:

“One of the bank’s employees absconded with the cash.” or “The prisoner absconded from jail.”

Are all these connotations current?

Editing back in to add that I tried to find the light on this word with a quick google, but got nowhere.

[David Rosenthal]

It all sounds current to me. Perhaps, "abscond from" is less frequent in my experience. On the other hand, it seems to me to be a pervasive habit of usage to use "with" with "abscond."

David R.

[John Beaton]

My OED on CD-ROM has 3 meanings, which, simplistically, can be paraphrased as follows:

1. trans. To hide (something)
2. refl. To hide oneself
3. intr. by omission of the refl pronoun To hide (oneself), go away hurriedly or secretly.

So it can mean "to hide" but that meaning seems to be an extension of "to hide oneself", with the "oneself" being understood.

John

[Andrew Frisardi]

That's very helpful, David and John. Thanks.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Andrew, could you give us an idea of the context? Or maybe you have the answer now?

[Andrew Frisardi]

John’s OED confirmed what I was hoping: that the verb abscond can be used without the reflexive pronoun and without a preposition. I used it in the Dante translation I posted last night, where it occurs in the penultimate stanza. The speaker says he goes off to mourn alone, to get away from people, hide himself away--in short, he absconds.

[Janice D. Soderling]

I didn't realize it was posted. I'll take a gander.