Fugitive
From Free net encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Fugitive (disambiguation).
A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. As a verbal metaphor and psychological concept, one might also be described as a "fugitive from oneself." Finally, the literary sense of "fugitive" includes the meaning of simply "fleeting."
Interpol is the international authority for the pursuit of trans-border fugitives. In the United States, the Marshals Service is the primary law enforcement agency that tracks down federal fugitives, though the Federal Bureau of Investigation also hunts fugitives.
For what may be considered obvious reasons, fugitives generally avoid contact with individuals from their home country. However, they might spend much time on the Internet to fulfill the basic daily need for conversation, especially if they are unable to communicate well with the people in their new country. Popular fugitive havens include relatively lawless areas of Brazil, South Africa, Southeast Asia, India, and the anonymous world cities of New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo.
Oxford English Dictionary Entry:
A. adjective.
1. (a.) Apt or tending to flee; given to, or in the act of, running away. (b.) That has taken flight, esp. from duty, an enemy, justice, or a master. Also, of a debtor: Intending flight. (c.) Of a substance (e.g. the metal mercury): Escaping from or eluding the grasp, slippery. Obs.1
2. Driven out, banished, exiled. Const. from, of.
3. Moving from place to place; flitting, shifting, vagabond. Also fig. Fickle.
4. (a.) Of immaterial things: Evanescent, fleeting, of short duration. (b.) Of impressions, colours, etc.: Quickly fading or becoming effaced. Less correctly of material substances: Perishable. (c.) Of a chemical substance: Volatile. rare. (d.) Bot. Of flowers and petals: Soon falling.
5. Of a literary composition (occas. of a writer): Concerned or dealing with subjects of passing interest; ephemeral, occasional.
B. noun.
1. (a.) One who flees or tries to escape from danger, an enemy, justice, or an owner. Cf. A. 1. Occas. one who intends flight. to declare a person a fugitive (Sc. Law): to pronounce sentence of FUGITATION upon. (b.) A deserter. Obs. (c.) One who quits or is banished from his country; an exile, refugee. (d.) One that abandons a monastic life. Obs.1
2. One who shifts about or moves from place to place; a vagabond, wanderer. Applied also to the lower animals.
3. Something fugitive; something fleeting, or that eludes the grasp. Obs. exc. with personification.
Hence fugitive v. trans. (nonce-wd.), to make fugitive, drive into exile; fugitively adv. rare0, in a fugitive manner (Webster 1864); fugitivism, the condition of a fugitive; fugitivity, the quality or state of being fugitive.