▪ I. refuge, n.
(ˈrɛfjuːdʒ)
Also 5 reffuge.
[a. F. refuge (12th c.), ad. L. refugium, f. re- re- back + fugĕre to flee. See also refu and refute n.1]
1. a. Shelter or protection from danger or trouble; succour sought by, or rendered to, a person. † to do refuge, to give refuge or aid to one.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 862 Yeue vs neither mercy ne refuge But sle me first. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 448 The grete Reffuyt and Reffuge that thow dost to alle synful men. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cvii. 81 The .ii. sones of Mordred were constrayned of pure force to seche stronge holdes for theyr refuge. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 1095 To the prophet Hely a rauen dyd refuge, Brought hym his sustenaunce and saued his lyue. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis i. (Arb.) 39 Of the[e] request I refuge, with meeke submission humbled. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 673 So violence Proceeded..Through all the Plain, and refuge none was found. 1755 Warburton Serm. Luke xiii. 1–2 Wks. 1788 V. 297 The hapless Unbeliever..hath no where to fly for refuge from his terrors. 1784 Cowper Task i. 238 The dweller in that still retreat Dearly obtains the refuge it affords. 1807 Sir R. Wilson Jrnl. 28 June in Life (1862) II. viii. 286 All patriotism and honour has in Prussia sought refuge among the women. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 429 Is he sad? there's ready refuge. |
b. of refuge, adapted or intended for shelter or protection, as in city (see city 1 f), country, harbour, place, port, († weapon,) of refuge; also house of refuge, an institution for sheltering the homeless or destitute.
| c 1430 Lydg. Bochas ii. xxviii. 61/1 This Asylum..Was a place of refuge and socours. 1482 Caxton Trevisa's Higden i. xv. 29 Sychem..was a Cyte of refuge and of socoure. 1540 Bible (Cranmer) Josh. xx. 2 Appoynte out from among you cyties of refuge. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 49 b, The rest..shall be banisshed to have no place of refuge. 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 3 b, Swords..have been in all ages..the last weapon of refuge both for horsemen, and footmen. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVI. 50/2 The cities of refuge were required to be well supplied with water and necessary provisions. 1838 Arnold Hist. Rome I. 7 He [Romulus] set apart a place of refuge, to which any man might flee, and be safe from his pursuers. 1866 Act 29 & 30 Vict. c. 117 §31 Provided that such House of Refuge, School, or Institution is certified as a Reformatory School under this Act. 1867 Smiles Huguenots Eng. Pref. (1880) 5 The geographical position of Britain has, from the earliest times, rendered it a country of refuge. |
c. to take refuge, to seek safety or shelter in (or at) a place; also transf. (const. in), to betake oneself, have recourse, to (something) as a means of escape, consolation, etc.
| 1764 Burn Poor Laws 228 The Portuguese have a notion of honour, that if a murderer takes refuge in their house, they are bound to protect him. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest iv, We must take refuge in Switzerland, I think. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 397 The king..was borne down by the superior force of his enemies, and was constrained to take refuge in his capital. 1874 Green Short Hist. iii. §7. 147 A thunderstorm once forced the King..to take refuge at the palace of the Bishop of Durham. |
| transf. 1708 Atterbury Serm. vi. (1726) II. 202 These Persons..take Refuge in Reflections on the..Goodness of God. 1788 F. Burney Diary 18 Feb., I..would have taken refuge in some other topic: but he seemed bent upon pursuing his own. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xviii. 175 Dinah perfectly scorned logic and reason in every shape, and always took refuge in intuitive certainty. 1877 Mrs. Forrester Mignon I. 113 Capt. Carlyle goes to his own room,..and takes refuge in a cigar. |
2. One who, or that which, serves to give shelter, protection, aid, comfort, etc.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 205 Reste and refuge to folk disconsolat, Fadir of pite and consolacioun, Blissid Leonard! 1481 Caxton Myrr. i. xiii. 39 He that is the very reffuge of alle creatures. 1555 Eden Decades 85 The byshoppe of Burges beinge the chiefe refuge of this nauigation. 1607 Shakes. Timon iii. iii. 11 Must I be his last Refuge? a 1660 Hammond Serm. xxiii. Wks. 1684 IV. 635 In the midst of his Ship wrack, when there be planks and refuges enough about him. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 396 Sleep seems their only refuge: for, alas! Where penury is felt the thought is chained. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. 311 Howl, Spirits of the living and the dead, Your refuge, your defence lies fallen and vanquished. c 1886 Kipling Departm. Ditties, etc. (1899) 101, I go back To Rome and leisure... Or books—the refuge of the destitute. |
3. a. A place of safety or security; a shelter, asylum, stronghold; spec., an establishment that offers shelter to a woman who has been physically ill-treated by her husband (or another man with whom she has cohabited). Also in fig. context.
| 14.. in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 136 And lyke a dowve fle to his refuge. 1535 Coverdale 1 Macc. x. 14 Onely at Bethsura remayned certayne of the Iewes.., for Bethsura was their refuge. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 131 Thei had no certain refuge nor place to resorte to. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. iv. xi. (1622) 106 With small bloudshed of the barbarians, by reason of their refuges at hand. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 168 This Hell then seem'd A refuge from those wounds. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 310 Drawn from his refuge in some lonely elm..ventures forth..The squirrel. 1814–15 Shelley Wordsworth 9 Thou hast like to a rock-built refuge stood Above the blind and battling multitude. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xv. 103 [The chamois] flew with the speed of the wind to its refuge in the mountains. 1976 Lancaster & Morecambe Guardian 7 Dec. 27/3 (Advt.), Battered Women's Refuge—Women's Information Centre. 1977 New Society 25 Aug. 389/1 The Hastings Refuge Group began campaigning in January 1976 in the hope of getting a house from the council to use as a refuge. Meanwhile they set up an emergency service for battered wives. |
b. (See quot.)
| 1891 H. Matthews in Law Times XCII. 96/2 Female convicts..are in certain cases released to refuges nine months before the ordinary time for release on licence. |
c. A portion of the roadway marked off at busy crossings, for securing the safety of foot passengers.
| 1869 [see island n. 2 c]. 1881 Grant White England xiv. 320 The contrivance called a ‘refuge’ which is placed at intervals more or less convenient in the roadway of the street. 1896 Daily News 11 Sept. 4 The erection of a large refuge, which would separate the two lines of traffic. 1930 V. Sackville-West Edwardians iii. 122 Standing upon the refuge waiting to cross Park Lane, he had seen her drive out of Stanhope Gate. 1976 Cumberland & Westmorland Herald 4 Dec. 1/1 It was ludicrous that Belisha beacons could not be erected. People would be running the gauntlet from the pavement to the central refuge. |
d. A mountain hut in which climbers and walkers can shelter.
| 1817 H. C. B. Campbell Jrnl. 4 Sept. in G. de Beer Journey to Florence (1951) 62 We were eight hours in reaching the top of this wondrous mountain... We stopped at the Refuge No 2. 1873 Young Englishwoman Nov. 524/2 Napoleon appointed that ten or twelve ‘refuges’ should be built for storm-harassed travellers here. 1899 G. Bell Let. 28 Aug. (1927) I. 51 We..walked up to the Refuge de l'Alpe in two hours. Two German men turned up at the Refuge. 1933 G. D. Abraham Mod. Mountaineering i. 8 The hut is situated less than an hour below the Shoulder... To use this refuge for ordinary mountaineering is an abuse; it is only intended and equipped for special parties in extremis. 1956 G. Rébuffat Mont Blanc to Everest 42 ‘There's the refuge. Look, they're signalling to us with lanterns!’ How I wished they were. But I knew that the Solvay hut was at least 600 feet lower. 1967 ‘G. Carr’ Lewker in Tirol vi. 84 He had not been inside an Alpine hut for years, but this one was very different from the penitential refuges he remembered in Haute Savoie. 1973 Guardian 25 Apr. 1/8 The boys had only to be a short distance off route to walk right past their assessors, who were waiting in the safety of the mountain refuge on Foel Grach's summit. |
e. Biol. A region in which a natural population can survive through a generally unfavourable period.
| 1929 Bull. Geol. Soc. Amer. XL. 663 On the west coast of Norway the ice seems to have reached out into the sea, but it was probably so thin that many islands and high peninsulas rose above it and formed places of refuge for arctic plants and animals. 1946 New Phytol. XLV. 235 The tundra refugees could survive only in the tundra refuges but not in those offered by the coastal mountains. 1954 A. J. Cain Animal Species v. 60 Its [sc. the arid period's] effect was to confine forest-living animals of all sorts to several refuges where rainfall was sufficient to maintain the sort of habitat necessary for them. 1979 Guardian 28 Aug. 3/2 The Dartford warbler..suffered population crashes seven times between 1860 and 1945, but recovered each time because a breeding population of several dozen pairs remained in a habitat refuge. |
f. U.S. A bird sanctuary.
| 1933 Sun (Baltimore) 9 May 14/5 The refuge..is under the supervision of Mrs. R. L. Duke, who since 1931 has played host to the waterfowl which make it a winter ‘resort’. 1956 Peterson & Fisher Wild Amer. xxix. 320 At the Refuge headquarters they told us that their census of nesting grebes on Tule Lake..showed 3500 pied-bills. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 24 Jan. 9/4 The conservation group..succeeded in setting up a 150-acre refuge in central Wisconsin... It is a roosting site where eagles have been stopping..as they migrate southward. |
4. † a. A way or means of obtaining shelter or safety; a resource; recourse to a practice. Obs.
| 1529 More Dyaloge i. Wks. 163/1 He..hath a sure and vndoubtable refuge..to brynge him out of all perplexite, in that God hath commaunded him in all such doutes to byleue his churche. 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terap. G j, We must somtyme come and haue refuge to the sendyng of blode. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. iii. 11 Their latest refuge Was to send him. 1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 313 These shifts and by-ways..are meer refuges to shelter our infirmitie. 1670 Clarendon Life (1760) I. v. 177 The king then, as the last Refuge, calls for the English Mastiffs. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. ii. ii. 12 A general..has no other refuge left, than continually to raise the expectation of his allies by some fresh exploits. |
† b. to have or make one's refuge: to betake oneself for refuge to a person or place. Obs.
| 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 248/1 To the end we may haue our refuge to his mercie. a 1648 Ld. Herbert Hen. VIII (1683) 439 The offenders making their refuge from one lordship marcher to another, were continued without punishment and correction. |
c. A plea, pretext, excuse, or answer, in which one takes refuge.
| 1549 in Burnet Hist. Ref. (1681) II. Records i. 177 His refuge was only, That they would fain learn how they might honestly answer the French. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, v. iv. 69 She and the Dolphin haue bin iugling, I did imagine what would be her refuge. 1699 Bentley Phal. Pref. 19 The Starters of this Calumny..betook themselves to this Refuge, That [etc.]. 1724 Waterland Farther Vind. Christ's Div. ii. §15 The boasted pretence.., the last refuge both of Socinians and Arians, is entirely routed and baffled. 1775 Johnson in Boswell 7 Apr., Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. 1891 Daily News 24 Nov. 4/7 As patriotism is sometimes the last refuge of a scoundrel, so economy..is the last refuge of a Reactionary. |
5. attrib., as refuge house, refuge hut, refuge place, refuge tower; refuge hole (see quot. 1883); refuge room, a gas-proof room.
| c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. lxxi. ii, Lord,..Be my rock, my refuge tower. 1813 Scott Rokeby vi. vi, I've sought for refuge-place in vain. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. xviii. 187 This little refuge-hut..was the means of saving the lives of these four men. 1869 J. Ker Serm. (1874) 339 To make the death of Christ a mere refuge-house for pardons. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Refuge Hole, a place formed in the side of an underground plane or horse road..in which men can take refuge during the passing of a train, or when firing shots. 1938 Times 10 Mar. 11/1 An internal passage will form a very good refuge-room if it can be closed at both ends. 1940 [see goof v. 1 a]. |
▪ II. refuge, v. Now rare.
(ˈrɛfjuːdʒ)
[f. the n., or ad. F. réfugier, † refuger (15th c.), usually refl. se réfugier, to take refuge.]
1. a. trans. To afford a refuge, asylum, or retreat to (a person); to shelter, protect. Also occas. in pass., to be refuged, to have taken refuge.
| 1594 O. B. Quest. Profit. Concern. 13 b, A strong couert and sanctuarie..to refuge the wronged. 1613 Sherley Trav. Persia 34 Hauing promise of the Turke that he should be detained in Corassan where he was refuged. 1681 Temple Mem. iii. Wks. 1731 I. 358 Prince William..[has] been refuged and supported by that Crown against..the Emperor. 1720 Mrs. Manley Power of Love vii. (1741) 359 Castruchio..promised to receive and refuge her at a fair House he had at Tivoli. 1779 G. Keate Sketches fr. Nat. II. 145 They found all the people on board, refuged [1790 retired] in different places beneath the deck. 1818 Shelley Eugan. Hills 205 So shall be The city that did refuge thee. 1867 J. B. Rose tr. Virgil's Aeneid 22 Thou who alone hast refuged our distress. |
| transf. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, v. v. 26 Like silly Beggars, Who sitting in the Stockes, refuge their shame That many haue, and others must sit there. |
† b. refl. To take refuge; to flee for refuge to a place. Obs.
| 1618 T. Adams Serm. 9 Sensualitie is the voluptuous man's mountaine, there he refugeth himselfe against all reproofes. 1643 T. Coleman Serm. in Kerr Covenants (1895) 173 The ministers of the Lord that have refuged themselves to this little Sanctuary. 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. (1720) III. 240 He was expell'd the Empire, and refuged himself in the Persian Court. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) II. 304, I have refuged myself in his family. |
2. a. intr. To take refuge; to seek shelter or protection. Also fig.
| 1638–48 G. Daniel Eclog. v. 302 And now, the King Is pleas'd to refuge there. 1709 Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. I. 4, I was reported to have refug'd among the Villagers. 1720 ― Power of Love i. (1741) 116 He..refuged in the Greatness of his Courage. 1790 A. M. Johnson Monmouth I. 47 She had heard that pirates refuged formerly in the Hebrides. 1805 Southey Madoc in Azt. xxvii, Upon the heights Eastward, how few have refuged! 1899 Rider Haggard in Longm. Mag. Oct. 535 They move in short dipping flights, refuging in every convenient tree. 1929 R. Bridges Testament of Beauty iii. 85 What grave lore had refuged with the Ishmaelite was stealing back from exile to its western home. |
† b. To flee for refuge. Obs. rare.
| 1656 Sir J. Finett For. Ambass. 111 The Duke de Soubise refuged hether from France upon miscarriage of some undertakings of his there. |
Hence ˈrefuged ppl. a. rare.
| 1725 tr. Dupin's Eccl. Hist. 17th C. I. ii. iii. 39 If the refug'd Person is guilty, he shall agree to make proper Satisfaction for him. |
▪ III. refuge
obs. (or dial.) var. of refuse n. and v.