"flying off or proceeding out from a center," 1690s, with adjectival suffix -al (1) + Modern Latin centrifugus, 1687, coined by Sir Isaac Newton in "Principia" (which is written in Latin), from Latin centri-, alternative combining form of centrum "center" (see center (n.)) + fugere "to flee" (see fugitive (adj.)). Centrifugal force is Newton's vis centrifuga.

"medicine that reduces fever," 1680s, from French fébrifuge, literally "driving fever away," from Latin febris (see fever) + fugare "cause to flee, put to flight, drive off, chase away, rout," also used in reference to banishment and exile, derived verb from fuga "flight," which is reconstructed to be from a suffixed form of PIE root *bheug- (1) "to flee" (see fugitive (adj.)).

"fleeing, likely to flee," 1630s, with -ous + Latin fugaci-, stem of fugax "apt to flee, timid, shy," figuratively "transitory, fleeting," from fugere "to flee" (see fugitive). Related: Fugaciously; fugaciousness; fugacity.

type of musical composition, 1590s, fuge, from Italian fuga, literally "flight," also "ardor," from Latin fuga "a running away, act of fleeing," from fugere "to flee" (see fugitive (adj.)). Current English spelling (1660s) is from the French version of the Italian word.

A Fugue is a composition founded upon one subject, announced at first in one part alone, and subsequently imitated by all the other parts in turn, according to certain general principles to be hereafter explained. The name is derived from the Latin word fuga, a flight, from the idea that one part starts on its course alone, and that those which enter later are pursuing it. ["Fugue," Ebenezer Prout, 1891]

"shunning light" (in reference to bats, cockroaches, etc.), 1650s, from Latin lucifugus "light-shunning," from stem of lucere "to shine" (from suffixed (iterative) form of PIE root *leuk- "light, brightness") + stem of fugax "apt to flee, timid," figuratively "transitory, fleeting," from fugere "to flee" (see fugitive (adj.)).

"shelter or protection from danger, assistance in distress," late 14c., from Old French refuge "hiding place" (12c.), from Latin refugium "a taking refuge; a place of refuge, place to flee back to," from re- "back" (see re-) + fugere "to flee" (see fugitive (adj.)) + -ium neuter suffix in a sense of "place for."

By late 19c. especially "temporary shelter for the destitute or homeless." To take refuge "seek safety or shelter (in)," literally or figuratively, is by 1690s.

1680s, "one who flees to a refuge or shelter or place of safety; one who in times of persecution or political disorder flees to a foreign country for safety," from French refugié, a noun use of the past participle of refugier "to take shelter, protect," from Old French refuge "hiding place," from Latin refugium "a taking refuge; place to flee back to," from re- "back" (see re-) + fugere "to flee" (see fugitive (adj.)) + -ium , neuter ending in a sense of "place for."

In English, the word was first applied to French Huguenots who fled persecution in their native country after the revocation (1685) of the Edict of Nantes. The word meant "one seeking asylum" until 1914, when it evolved to mean "one fleeing home" (first applied in this sense to civilians in Flanders heading west to escape fighting in World War I). In Australian slang from World War II, reffo.

"that to which one resorts for an escape or concealment; an artifice to escape," 1570s, from French subterfuge (14c.) or directly from Medieval Latin subterfugium "an evasion," from Latin subterfugere "to evade, escape, flee by stealth," from subter "beneath, below;" in compounds "secretly" (from PIE *sup-ter-, comparative form of *(s)up-; see sub-) + fugere "flee" (see fugitive (adj.)).

In English subter- sometimes is a word-forming element, "under, below, less than," in opposition to super-. Compare subterfluous "running under water" (1650s); subterconscious (adj.), 1856; subternatural "subnormal" (1870); subterhuman (1833).

1690s, "remedy to expel intestinal worms," from French vermifuge, from Latin vermis "worm" (from PIE root *wer- (2) "to turn, bend") + fugare "cause to flee, put to flight" (see fugitive (adj.)).

word-forming element meaning "that which drives away or out," from Modern Latin -fugus, with sense from Latin fugare "to put to flight" (see febrifuge) but form from Latin fugere "to flee" (see fugitive (adj.)).