furlough

Etymology

From Dutch verlof, cognate with Danish forlov (“furlough”) (loaned from Middle Low German), German Verlaub (“permission”).

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: fur‧lough
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɜː(ɹ).ləʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɝ.loʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ləʊ

Noun

furlough (countable and uncountable, plural furloughs)

1. A leave of absence or vacation.
   1. (US) especially one granted to a member of the armed forces, or to a prisoner.
      • 1957, James Baldwin, “Sonny’s Blues,” in Going to Meet the Man, Dial, 1965,

        And I had a lot of things on my mind and I pretty well forgot my promise to Mama until I got shipped home on a special furlough for her funeral.

   2. (Britain) especially one granted to a missionary.
2. The documents authorizing such leave.
3. (US) A period of unpaid time off, used by an employer to reduce costs.
   • 2008 November 7, Jon Ortiz, “State workers rip Schwarzenegger's job furlough plan”, in The Sacramento Bee‎:

     The state estimates the one-day-a-month furlough spread over the 18 months of the plan would amount to a 5 percent cut in pay.

Verb

furlough (third-person singular simple present furloughs, present participle furloughing, simple past and past participle furloughed)

1. (transitive) To grant a furlough to (someone).
2. (transitive) To have (an employee) not work in order to reduce costs; to send (someone) on furlough.

Further reading

• furlough on Wikipedia.Wikipedia