n. [ L. scapus shaft, stem, stalk; cf. Gr. &unr_; a staff: cf. F. scape. Cf. Scepter. ] 1. (Bot.) A peduncle rising from the ground or from a subterranean stem, as in the stemless violets, the bloodroot, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) The long basal joint of the antennae of an insect. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Arch.) (a) The shaft of a column. (b) The apophyge of a shaft. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Scaped p. pr. & vb. n. Scaping. ] [ Aphetic form of escape. ] To escape. [ Obs. or Poetic. ] Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Out of this prison help that we may scape. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An escape. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I spake of most disastrous chances, . . .
Of hairbreadth scapes in the imminent, deadly breach. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Means of escape; evasion. [ Obs. ] Donne. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A freak; a slip; a fault; an escapade. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not pardoning so much as the scapes of error and ignorance. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Loose act of vice or lewdness. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who has narrowly escaped the gallows for his crimes. [ Colloq. ] Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Scape (for escape) + goat. ] 1. (Jewish Antiq.) A goat upon whose head were symbolically placed the sins of the people, after which he was suffered to escape into the wilderness. Lev. xvi. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, a person or thing that is made to bear blame for others. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A graceless, unprincipled person; one who is wild and reckless. Beaconsfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Bot.) Destitute of a scape. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Scape, v., Escapement. ] Same as Escapement, 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Horol.) The wheel in an escapement (as of a clock or a watch) into the teeth of which the pallets play. [ 1913 Webster ]