spirit away

• IPA^(key): /ˈspɪɹ.ɪt əˌweɪ/

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spirit away (third-person singular simple present spirits away, present participle spiriting away, simple past and past participle spirited away)

1. (transitive) To remove without anyone's noticing.

   The paintings were spirited away under cover of darkness.

2. (transitive) To carry off through the agency of a spirit or through some magical means.
   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 156:

     "But far up in the country, in the mountain districts, we still often hear of fairies having been seen, of their spiriting people away into the mountains, and such like.