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Glite Dictionary
to take her leave

to take her leave

1 7.7
To say goodbye and leave politely
  • phrasal verb
  • Formal
translation icon : despedirse
  • Elizabeth shrugged, picked up the silver tray, and made ready to take her leave.

Reich makes overwhelmingly tactile the ways in which the past is always conferring its shape on the present, and then, like the voices taking its leave.

Examples

  • Ross said nothing when Mandy took her leave, but he would be in the sheriff's office tomorrow when she came to town, whether she wanted him there or not.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Sarah giggles as she takes her leave of Bull.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • I could feel her wondering how to take her leave, and how soon.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • Then she stopped believing, and then... ...the good French lady... ...took her leave.

    Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)

  • There was nothing Zenobia could possibly do but take her leave.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Sadly, she took her leave, fairly sure he would not wander off in the short night, and meaning to be back by morning.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • "After this small act of defiance, Belle took her leave."

    Fiction book (1992)

  • She assumed widow Scully would take her leave now.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Pauline hugs Juliet and reluctantly takes her leave.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • After the meeting ended, she decided to take her leave and head home.

Synonyms

to go away
vsto take her leave
709 1.0

To leave a place or person and go somewhere else

is a formal polite departure rather than a quick or abrupt moving away
to say goodbye
vsto take her leave
562 1.0

To tell someone you are leaving and wish them well

is more formal and ceremonial than a casual parting phrase
to depart
vsto take her leave
176 1.3

To leave a place to start a journey

is about formally saying goodbye rather than simply moving away
to bow out
vsto take her leave
20 4.9

To stop doing a job or role politely

is a polite ceremonial exit specifically involving saying farewell
to say farewell
vsto take her leave
  • Formal
12 3.8

To tell someone goodbye before you leave, often in a formal or sad way

is specifically a polite ceremonial parting rather than emotional focus
to take leave
vsto take her leave
  • Formal
5 3.9

Say goodbye to people and go away from a place politely

is a polite ceremonial parting performed by a woman

Antonyms

to stay
∞ 1.0

To remain in one place and not leave

How Formal

to take her leave
  • Formal
1 7.7
to say farewell
  • Formal
12 3.8
to say goodbye
562 1.0

Surface Forms

take her leave infinitive
taking her leave present participle
takes her leave third person singular
took her leave past
taken her leave past participle

Morphology

take + her + leave

The meaning is directly built from 'take' + 'leave' where 'leave' as a noun means departure and 'take' signals assuming that action; 'her' simply marks whose leave it is. This is a productive, formal English pattern (take one's leave) with clear cross-linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Take her leave comes from old polite manners when 'leave' meant permission, so a woman would take her leave by asking the host, bowing, and then going. That's why it now means 'to say goodbye and depart'.