leave sb. (1 also in phr. “by , under of, by your , with your leave, have leave.”)
1.
permission
Gent. II. iv. 25
“Give him ”
(=make allowances for him),
Err. I. i. 35
“I'll utter what my
sorrow gives me ”
(=allows),
3H6 III. ii. 34
“you will have
leave”
(=you will be free to do as you please),
Ven. 568
“love, whose exceeds
commission.”
2.
permission to depart;
used in polite forms of (i) bidding farewell Wiv. III. ii. 29,
Mer.V. II. iv. 15
“By your , sir.—Whither goest thou?”
; (ii) dismissal
John I. i. 230
“wilt thou give us leave
awhile?”
(i.e. leave us alone), 3H6 III. ii. 33, Rom. I. iii. 7;
Tw.N. II. iv. 73
“Give me now to leave
thee”
[dismissing the clown], Wint. II. i. 123,
1H4 I. iii. 20
“You have good to leave
us”
; similarly “take” (one's) “leave” (freq.)=orig. to receive permission
to depart (cf.
All'sW. V. iii. 79
“took her ”
=bade her farewell).
3.
leave-taking
Mac. IV. iii. 236
“Our lack is nothing but
our ”
(i.e. taking leave of the king, or (?) an
instance of sense 2),
Ham. I. iii. 54
“Occasion smiles upon a
second leave.”
