fleon

Old English[edit]

flēon

to flee
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Saint Augustine's Soliloquies
  ...ac onfōh mē nū þīnne āgene þēawa, for ic eom flēonde fram hym.
  ...but do Thou receive me now, Thine own servant, for I am fleeing from them.
to run away, run from, escape
Mid þē sind þā þing þe þū flīehst.
The things that you run from are with you.
- late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy
  God ne ēht nānre wihte, for þȳ hine nān wiht ne mæġ flēon.
  God doesn't chase anything, because nothing can run from him.
to avoid

In the sense of fleeing or running from something, fleon was usually used transitively without a preposition, as in hē flēah þone beran (literally "he fled the bear"). However, uses with fram ("from") are occasionally attested.

Conjugation of flēon (strong class 2)