Make A Break For It Meaning

(idiomatic) To attempt to escape; to flee; to run away.

Example: 1915, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Valley of Fear, ch. 3:
  "By Gar! it was as well that he made a break for it before the note reached us! I guess he won't show his face in this valley again."
2006, "Behavior: The New Runaways: Old Folks," Time, 12 July:
  To restrain runaways who are too fragile to survive on the outside, Administrator Edward Farmilant of Chicago's Somerset nursing home gave the front door guard pictures of 36 patients who might make a break for it.