(~s)
1.
If you take ~ somewhere, you try to protect yourself from physical harm by going there.
They took ~ in a bomb shelter...
His home became a place of ~ for the believers.
N-UNCOUNT
2.
A ~ is a place where you go for safety and protection, for example from violence or from bad weather.
...a ~ for battered women...
N-COUNT
3.
If you take ~ in a particular way of behaving or thinking, you try to protect yourself from unhappiness or unpleasantness by behaving or thinking in that way.
All too often, they get bored, and seek ~ in drink and drugs...
N-UNCOUNT