Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A leave of absence or vacation, especially one granted to a member of the armed forces.
  • noun A usually temporary layoff from work.
  • noun A temporary leave of absence granted to a prisoner under special circumstances, such as the need to attend the funeral of a family member, or for a special purpose, such as participation in a work program.
  • noun The papers or documents authorizing a leave.
  • transitive verb To grant a furlough to.
  • transitive verb To terminate the employment of (a worker).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To furnish with a furlough; grant leave of absence to, as a soldier.
  • noun Leave of absence; especially, in military use, leave or license given by a commanding officer to an officer or a soldier to be absent from service for a certain time.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mil.) Leave of absence; especially, leave given to an officer or soldier to be absent from service for a certain time; also, the document granting leave of absence.
  • transitive verb (Mil.) To furnish with a furlough; to grant leave of absence to, as to an officer or soldier.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A leave of absence or vacation.
  • verb transitive To grant a furlough to (someone).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb grant a leave to
  • noun a temporary leave of absence from military duty
  • verb dismiss, usually for economic reasons

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration of vorloffe, furlogh, from Dutch verlof, from Middle Dutch; see leubh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch verlof, cognate with Danish forlov ("furlough") (loaned from Middle Low German), German Verlaub ("permission").

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