furlough
noun/ˈfɜːləʊ/
/ˈfɜːrləʊ/
[uncountable, countable]- permission to leave your duties for a period of time, especially for soldiers working in a foreign country
- to go home on furlough
- The plane was full of soldiers going home on furlough.
- a six-week furlough
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- (North American English) permission for a prisoner to leave prison for a period of time
- He was released on a weekend furlough.
- The prisoner failed to return from a furlough.
- (North American English) a period of time during which workers are told not to come to work, usually because there is not enough money to pay them
Word Originearly 17th cent.: from Dutch verlof, modelled on German Verlaub, of West Germanic origin and related to leave (noun).
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