A deserter; a fugitive.

A person who fails in the performance of a duty or obligation, esp. one which is legally required; (in early use often) spec. a person who fails to…

in same sense.

A person who defects from a person, party, organization, or cause; (in later use) spec. one who abandons a communist country in order to settle in a…

A person who is unfaithful to some duty. Obsolete.

†(a) one who turns away; a deserter, forsaker (obsolete); (b) the act of turning people away from a place of assembly already full; also transf.

One who comes short of duty.

A person who deserts a party, organization, or cause; a defector. Now rare.

One guilty of dereliction of duty (U.S.). Cf. A. 2.