Getaway

How to spell getaway

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce getaway

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does getaway mean?

1. nounA short trip or holiday taken to relax away from home.
2. nounAn escape or flight, especially the act of fleeing after committing a crime.

Getaway in a sentence

• They booked a weekend getaway at a quiet coastal cottage.

• The robbers used a stolen van as their getaway vehicle.

• A romantic getaway in the mountains was exactly what the tired couple needed.

• Police blocked every exit to prevent the suspect's getaway.

Where does getaway come from?

Language of origin: Old Norse

Getaway is a compound formed from the everyday phrasal verb 'get away', meaning to escape or to depart. The verb 'get' came into English from Old Norse 'geta', meaning to obtain, reach, or beget, and it took hold in the medieval period through Scandinavian settlement in the north of England. The second element, 'away', descends from Old English 'aweg' or 'on weg', literally 'on one's way' or 'off, at a distance'. The two words were welded into a single noun in the nineteenth century, first in American usage, to name an act of escaping, and the spelling simply runs the two halves together without a break. Because both pieces are ordinary words that everyone already spells correctly on their own, the only thing to remember is that getaway is written as one solid word, not 'get away' or 'get-away'.

How the word is built

• get (Old Norse-derived verb meaning to obtain or reach)
• away (Old English aweg: on one's way, off)