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French leave is "leave of absence without permission or without announcing one's departure",〔''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'' (Millennium Edition; London: Cassell, 1999)〕 including leaving a party without bidding farewell to the host. The intent behind this behaviour is to leave without disturbing the host. The phrase is first recorded in 1771 and was born at a time when the English and French cultures were heavily interlinked. In French, the equivalent phrase is ''filer à l'anglaise'' ("to leave English style")〔Anu Garg's A.Word.A.Day, September 8, 2008. http://wordsmith.org/words/chinese_puzzle.html〕 and seems to date from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Filer à l'anglaise )〕 ==First usage== The Oxford English Dictionary records: "the custom (in the 18th century prevalent in France and sometimes imitated in England) of going away from a reception, etc. without taking leave of the host or hostess. Hence, jocularly, to take French leave is to go away, or do anything, without permission or notice." OED states the first recorded usage as: 1771 SMOLLETT Humph. Cl. (1895) 238 "He stole away an Irishman's bride, and took a French leave of me and his master." The actual derivation may have its roots in American history during the French and Indian wars. About 140 French soldiers were captured near Lake George in New York and ferried to an island in the lake. The French, knowing the area better than the British, waited until near dawn and quietly waded ashore leaving their captors bewildered on arising. Though its role as such didn't last a day, the island has been named Prison Island. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「French leave」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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