sich aus dem Staub machen
to make oneself scarce; to slip away
Origin
Probably from war: in the dust kicked up by the fray a soldier could slip away unnoticed; similarly read for the ancient arena.
Building blocks
Words in this expression
Grammar that uses this word
- Pronoun 'wir' (we, nominative)Pronomen 'wir' (Nominativ)
- Pronoun 'sie' (they, plural, nominative)Pronomen 'sie' (Plural, Nominativ)
- Regular verbs: wir-form (stem + -en)Regelmäßige Verben: wir-Form (Stamm + -en)
- Regular verbs: sie/Sie-form (stem + -en)Regelmäßige Verben: sie/Sie-Form (Stamm + -en)
Examples
Als die kam, hatte sich der aus dem .
By the time the police arrived, the thief had long since made himself scarce.