Definition of "fugitive" []

• Running away or fleeing, as from the law. (adjective)
• Lasting only a short time; fleeting: "[His] house and burial place ... should be visited by all who profess even a fugitive interest in political economy” ( John Kenneth Galbraith). (adjective)
• Difficult to comprehend or retain; elusive: fugitive solutions to the problem. (adjective)
• Given to change or disappearance; perishable: fugitive beauty. (adjective)
• Of temporary interest: fugitive essays. (adjective)

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.

• "These are things easily obtained in their freshness, but the term fugitive is too expressive of their nature, and after a generation or two they have all flown away, save those which the book-hunter has exorcised into the vaults of some public collection."
• "Bubbe used the word fugitive, which was the name of her second favorite TV show, next to Perry Mason."
• "It is not for me to put my finger on the sore; but, alack! we all know that young maidens are what I call fugitive essences."