To depart; to go to another place.
"She packed her bags and headed away from the city before the storm hit."
In plain English: To go somewhere else and leave your current place.
"The company decided to away with the old management style and start fresh."
Usage: Avoid using "away" as a standalone verb, as it functions only as an adverb or preposition in standard English. Instead, pair it with a main verb like "go," "leave," or "travel" to correctly express the action of departing.
not present; having left
"he's away right now"
"you must not allow a stranger into the house when your mother is away"
Not here, gone, absent, unavailable, traveling; on vacation.
"The captain shouted that all hands were away before lowering the anchor into the deep water."
Misspelling of aweigh.
In plain English: Away means not being here right now.
"The company's away days were used to train new staff."
Usage: The word "away" is an adverb and should never be used as an adjective; if you need to describe something weighing heavily or being in motion, use the correct adjective "aweight." Always spell this distinct form as "aweight," not "away."
from a particular thing or place or position (`forth' is obsolete)
"ran away from the lion"
"wanted to get away from there"
"sent the children away to boarding school"
"the teacher waved the children away from the dead animal"
"went off to school"
"they drove off"
"go forth and preach"
out of existence
"the music faded away"
"tried to explain away the affair of the letter"
"idled the hours away"
"her fingernails were worn away"
indicating continuing action; continuously or steadily
"he worked away at the project for more than a year"
"the child kept hammering away as if his life depended on it"
so as to be removed or gotten rid of
"cleared the mess away"
"the rotted wood had to be cut away"
in or into a proper place (especially for storage or safekeeping)
"put the toys away"
"her jewels are locked away in a safe"
"filed the letter away"
From a place, hence.
"She packed her bags and left for New York yesterday."
In plain English: Away means somewhere else that is not where you are right now.
"She put her keys away in the drawer."
Usage: Use away to indicate movement starting from a specific location and going elsewhere, such as in "put the toys away." It often pairs with verbs of motion or placement to show that something is being removed or sent to a different spot.
come on!; go on!
"Come away from there, you're blocking the exit!"
The word "away" comes from Old English onweġ, meaning "on one's way," which originally combined the prefix on- with the noun for a path or road. It traveled into Middle English and eventually modern usage to describe movement in a direction away from a starting point.