fugitive

1. Running away or fleeing, as from the law.
2. 1. Lasting only a short time; fleeting: "[His] house and burial place ... should be visited by all who profess even a fugitive interest in political economy" (John Kenneth Galbraith).
   2. Difficult to comprehend or retain; elusive: fugitive solutions to the problem.
   3. Given to change or disappearance; perishable: fugitive beauty.
   4. Of temporary interest: fugitive essays.
3. Tending to wander; vagabond.

1. One who flees; a refugee.
2. Something fleeting or ephemeral.

[Middle English fugitif, from Old French, from Latin fugitīvus, from fugitus, past participle of fugere, to flee.]

adjective

1. Fleeing or having fled, as from home, confinement, captivity, or justice: escaped, runaway. See seek/avoid.
2. Lasting or existing only for a short time: ephemeral, evanescent, fleet, fleeting, fugacious, momentary, passing, short-lived, temporal, temporary, transient, transitory. See continue/stop/pause, time.

noun

One who flees, as from home, confinement, captivity, or justice: escapee, refugee, runaway. See seek/avoid.

Definition: fleeing, transient
Antonyms: confronting, facing, permanent

Changing in color as a result of lack of permanency in a colored pigment or medium when exposed to air, light, etc.

For other uses, see Fugitive (disambiguation).

Fugitives are often profiled in the media in order to be apprehended, such as in the TV show America's Most Wanted.

A fugitive is a person who is fleeing from police custody, whether it be from private slavery, 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 "fleeing".

Interpol is the international authority for the pursuit of trans-border fugitives. Europol is the European authority for the pursuit of fugitives who are on the run within Europe, and coordinates their search, while national authorities in the probable country of their stay coordinate their arrest. In the United States, the U.S. Marshals Service is the primary law enforcement agency that tracks down federal fugitives, though the Federal Bureau of Investigation also tracks fugitives.

"On the lam"

"On the lam" or "on the run" often refers to fugitives. "Lam" means "thrash" or "beat soundly," from the Icelandic, "lemja". The imagery is that one beats the path with one's feet while fleeing quickly.^{[citation needed]}

Mencken's The American Language and The Thesaurus of American Slang proclaim that lam, lammister, and "on the lam" — all referring to a hasty departure — were common in thieves' slang before the turn of the Twentieth century. Mencken quotes a newspaper report on the origin of 'lam' which actually traces it indirectly back to Shakespeare's time.

Its origin should be obvious to anyone who runs over several colloquial phrases for leavetaking, such as 'beat it' and 'hit the trail'. The allusion in 'lam' is to 'beat,' and 'beat it' is Old English, meaning 'to leave.' During the period of George Ade's 'Fables in Slang' (1900), cabaret society delight in talking slang, and 'lam' was current. Like many other terms, it went under in the flood of new usages of those days, but was preserved in criminal slang. A quarter of a century later it reappeared.

Mencken also quotes a story from the New York Herald Tribune in 1938 which reported that "one of the oldest police officers in New York said that he had heard "on the lam" thirty years ago."

See also

Look up fugitive in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• America's Most Wanted
• Bounty hunter
• FBI
• FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives
• Interpol
• Outlaw
• United States Marshals Service
• U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), State Department
• "Marge on the Lam" - an episode of The Simpsons (television show)
• "The Fugitive"

External links

• AMW.com
• Fugitives wanted by FBI
• Interpol Wanted List - Recent

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - flygtning, flygtig ting, ubestandig farve
adj. - flygtig, bortløben

Nederlands (Dutch)
voortvluchtige, vluchteling, iets vluchtigs, voortvluchtig, zwervend, voorbijgaand, van tijdelijke interesse, vluchtig

Français (French)
n. - fugitif, fuyard
adj. - fugitif, fuyard, en fuite, réfugié, éphémère, fugace

Deutsch (German)
n. - Flüchtling, Flüchtiger
adj. - flüchtig

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - δραπέτης, φυγάς
adj. - δραπέτης, πρόσκαιρος, εφήμερος

Italiano (Italian)
fuggiasco, fuggitivo, fuggevole

Português (Portuguese)
n. - fugitivo (m)
adj. - fugitivo, efêmero

Русский (Russian)
беглец, беженец, преходящий

Español (Spanish)
n. - fugitivo, refugiado, prófugo
adj. - fugitivo, refugiado, prófugo, fugaz, efímero, pasajero

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - flykting, rymling
adj. - flyende, ostadig, tillfällig

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
逃亡者, 难捕捉之物, 亡命者, 逃亡的, 易变的, 无常的

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 逃亡者, 難捕捉之物, 亡命者
adj. - 逃亡的, 易變的, 無常的

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 도망자, 도주자
adj. - 달아난, 일시적인, 방랑하는

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 逃亡者
adj. - 逃亡した, うつろいやすい

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) شخص هارب (صفه) شارد , هارب‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮נמלט, בורח, עריק, פליט, גולה‬
adj. - ‮נמלט, בורח, חומק, זמני‬

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