French term
United Kingdom
Sensible solutions
Native in: English (Variant: Wessexois) 
Works in: French to English, English, English to French
Il a filé à l’anglaise
Does it mean he is going out with a French girl?
| 4 +15 | literally: took French leave |
Tony M
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| 4 | he sneaked out |
FPC
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| 3 | He skived off (like an English shirker) |
Adrian MM.
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| To take French leave? |
Barbara Carrara
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Apr 13, 2023 13:28: writeaway changed "Field" from "Law/Patents" to "Other" , "Field (write-in)" from "(none)" to "expression"
Apr 13, 2023 14:03: abe(L)solano changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): Carol Gullidge, Yvonne Gallagher, abe(L)solano
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Proposed translations
Austria
Retd.T&I, Barrister & Austro-Advokat
Native in: English (Variants: Scottish, British) 
Works in: Spanish to English, English to Spanish, French to English, and 5 more.
He skived off (like an English shirker)
Il a filé à l’anglaise : taking French leave IMO is indeed right, but basically perpetuates the silly, age-old Anglo-French antagonism, much like - if you will pardon the un-Catholic expression - a 'capote anglaise' turns into a French letter in English and figuratively shoved down my throat by my French relatives.
exit stage left (plural exits stage left) (idiomatic) An orderly and uneventful departure, timed so as not to detract or distract.
But tomorrow I'll show you how to skive off to the sorting room for a break. Mais demain je vais te montrer comment se défiler à la salle de tri pour une pause.
| neutral |
Tony M
: 'skive off' really tends to relate only to some kind of work situation ('esquiver') — and so might represent over-interpretation in the context here.
1 hr
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he sneaked out
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/sneak out
https://www.expressio.fr/expressions/filer-a-l-anglaise
literally: took French leave
Definuitely nothing to do with going out with a FR girl!
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Note added at 8 hrs (2023-04-13 20:53:12 GMT)
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Of course, in some situations we might even say "He went AWOL" — even in a non-military context.
| agree |
Andrew Paul Kennett
2 mins
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Thanks, Andrew!
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| agree |
Conor McAuley
: Part of the centuries-old love/hate relationship between the "faux frères"!
17 mins
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Thanks, Conor!
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| agree |
Mollie Milesi
: Yup. It's part of the same delightful but dysfunctional family as 'French letters' .
24 mins
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Thanks, Mollie!
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| agree |
Carol Gullidge
25 mins
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Thanks Carol!
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| agree |
writeaway
: https://www.frenchlearner.com/expressions/filer-a-langlaise/
40 mins
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Thanks; W/A!
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| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
: ...and one of your suggestions was "scarpered"!! So I don't understand the "no acceptable answer" bit
46 mins
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Thanks, Yvonne!
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| neutral |
Victoria Britten
: I have heard the French expression rather more often than headline English one. But any of the others, depending on context as you say, can fit the bill perfectly.
1 hr
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Thanks, Victoria! Yes, clearly my aim was first and foremost to give the 'classic' meaning of the FR idiom, before we had fuller context to work with.
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| agree |
Barbara Carrara
1 hr
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Thanks, Barbara!
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| agree |
FPC
4 hrs
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Thanks, FPC!
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| agree |
Bourth
: Took off, shot through, split, scarpered, if saying what an accomplice did, say, when police sirens were heard.
6 hrs
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Thanks, Bourth! Yes, so many possibilities according to each specific context.
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| agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
: We also say it in Greek "Tin kàno à la gallikà "= I am off in the french way! /Parakalô, cher Tony!
7 hrs
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Efharisto, Anastasia! LOL!
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| agree |
SafeTex
7 hrs
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Thanks, S/T!
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| agree |
Andrew Bramhall
: Yes, agree with PG; fourteen agrees and no acceptance is ludicrous, even if not the most appropriate answer in the given context;
8 hrs
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Thanks, Andrew!
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| agree |
philgoddard
: You should have got the points for this. You did your best in a context-free situation.
1 day 2 hrs
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| agree |
Johannes Gleim
: to disappear secretly
1 day 9 hrs
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| agree |
Lara Barnett
: I like AWOL, for conversational or familiar narrative.
3 days 22 hrs
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Reference comments
Italy
www.theitalianwordshop.com
Native in: Italian
Works in: English to Italian, French to Italian, Italian
To take French leave?
partir sans dire au revoir ; partir sans se faire remarquer ; se retirer discrètement ; filer rapidement ; s'échapper ; fuir discrètement ; filer en douce
Origine et définition
L'origine de cette expression n'est pas certaine.
Il peut s'agir d'une vengeance relativement récente vis-à-vis du peuple d'Outre-Manche qui utilise l'expression "to take French leave" (filer à la française) pour signifier la même chose.
Il peut aussi s'agir d'une déformation orale du mot anguille.
Parmi d'autres explications, au XVIe siècle, un créancier était appelé un Anglais, et on imagine bien le débiteur filer à l'anglaise lorsque son créancier "préféré" était dans les parages.
https://www.expressio.fr/expressions/filer-a-l-anglaise
| agree |
writeaway
: https://www.frenchlearner.com/expressions/filer-a-langlaise/
41 mins
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Thank you, w!
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| agree |
Tony M
2 hrs
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Thanks, Tony.
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| agree |
Yvonne Gallagher
2 hrs
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Thank you, Yvonne.
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| agree |
Michele Fauble
7 hrs
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Thanks.
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| agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
: We also say it in Greek "Tin kano a la gallika "= I am off in the french way!
7 hrs
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Thanks.
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Discussion
I feel you've been given answer to both of those, including a good selection of translation suggestions, depending on the context you haven't seen fit to give ue.