Noun

1. The contrivance in a timepiece (winding wrist watch) which connects the train of wheel work with the pendulum or balance, giving to the latter the impulse by which it is kept in vibration; -- so called because it allows a tooth to escape from a pallet at each vibration.
2. a mechanism found in devices such as a typewriter or printer which controls lateral motion of the carriage
3. an escape or means of escape