make like a tree and leave

English

Etymology

A pun on leave (“depart”) and leaf (“produce leaves”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Verb

make like a tree and leave (third-person singular simple present makes like a tree and leaves, present participle making like a tree and leaving, simple past and past participle made like a tree and left)

1. (idiomatic, humorous) To leave, depart.
   • 2011, P. E. Van Schaick, Greasy Village, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 82:

     See ya' later Pete, I'm making like a tree and leaving.

   • 2013, C. C. Elisan, Malware, Rootkits & Botnets (Beginner's Guide), McGraw Hill, →ISBN, page 197:

     After all the needed malware files have been installed and all the necessary changes to the system have been made to facilitate malware persistency, the malware installer makes like a tree and leaves. Since the job of the malware installer is done, there is no more need for it to linger in the system.

   • 2013 August 29, S. Moore, The Novel: An Alternative History, 1600-1800, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 168:

     In Cocklecu, gender roles are reversed, to Klim's disgust. (The queen keeps a seraglio of 300 handsome men, and Klim makes like a tree and leaves for fear of being added to them.)

Synonyms

• make like a baby and head out
• make like a banana and split
• put an egg in one's shoe and beat it