send flee

[jctgf]

A series of blasts just before 4 a.m. yesterday flung bright orange fireballs into the air and sent about 12,000 residents, many of them elderly, fleeing from their homes, most still in their night clothes.


hi there,
I wonder what ''sent fleeing'' mean in the sentence above, please. Is it a common expression in English? Can it be translated as "to cause someone to escape running/escape in a rush"?

Can I say "The fear of ghosts sent him fleeing bared feet onto the streets, into the night!".

Thanks.

[colloquium]

It is a fairly common expression when wars, disasters and terrible events in general are being reported.

Your interpretation is good. It usually describes people in a state of fear being forced to escape/avoid danger.

I would rephrase your sentence as:

His fear of ghosts sent him fleeing barefoot onto the streets and into the night

I am not a teacher.

[jctgf]

Originally Posted by colloquium

It is a fairly common expression when wars, disasters and terrible events in general are being reported.

Your interpretation is good. It usually describes people in a state of fear being forced to escape/avoid danger.

I would rephrase your sentence as:

His fear of ghosts sent him fleeing barefoot onto the streets and into the night

I am not a teacher.

Thanks.

Maybe you have already answered my question but is there a better and more common idiom in English to express this idea, that is, to go out in a rush as if one is afraid of something or because has forgotten to do something important?

He sent fleeing after he remembered that today is the last day for him to enroll at the English school.

Could you please provide more examples of how to use "send flee"?

Thanks again!

[Anglika]

The word "flee" indicates that the person/people are trying to escape from some unpleasant occurrence.


If there is no fear involved, then merely "rushed" would work:

I rushed out because I suddenly remembered that this was the last day of term.

He rushed to the English school after he remembered that today is the last day for him to enrol.