"Abscond"

       A word used in a newspaper's front page lead story made me realize I must not have known what that word meant.   Yesterday's L. A. Times spoke of ex-prisoners evading probation by absconding.

       I somehow had learned at an early age that "absconding" meant running off and disappearing with money that didn't belong to the person.  Here it seemed money didn't play a part in it at all.  Hiding and not making set meetings with probation officers was itself "absconding."

       Dictionaries confirm my misunderstanding.  Latin abs ("away") and condere ("put" or "stow"), make abscond an intransitive verb that's self-reflexive, meaning "to hide (oneself)."

       I must have read a lot about people stealing funds and then "absconding with the money," thinking money an integral part of absconding.  Not so!