Definition of "leave-taking" []

• A departure or farewell. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Wherever Keith's leave-taking fell on the "You're fired"/"You can't fire me, I quit" continuum, the affair suggests an oft-told but rarely remembered lesson in hubris: You may be valuable, you may even be irreplaceable -- a genius and a money-making machine rolled into one."
• "Flattered and well fed, the hour approaching eleven, the guests thanked Knowles for his hospitality and began their leave-taking, offering Regan a last compliment or suggestion or pledge of further assistance as they shook his hand and patted his shoulder on their way out."
• "Convinced its swift leave-taking was premature, a cult of adherents wistfully has been awaiting a return ever since."