elope
[ih-lohp]
- to run off secretly to be married, usually without the consent or knowledge of one's parents.
- to run away with a lover.
- to leave without permission or notification; escape: At age 21, the apprentice eloped from his master.
- (of a person with a mental disorder or cognitive impairment) to leave or run away from a safe area or safe premises.
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Origin of elope
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for elope
Contemporary Examples
On Dec. 22, 1799, Sands told her cousins that she would be leaving to elope with a fellow boarder named Levi Weeks that night.
Daughters who elope and dare to choose their own husbands are also considered dishonorable.
I wanted to elope, but Charles really wants to have a party for our friends.
Historical Examples
Goujet was an odd fellow, proposing to elope, just the way it happens in novels.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
The man who had induced her to elope with him sat at dice with a gentleman from London!
The Tavern KnightRafael Sabatini
Why don't you elope with some one—the dark, clinging girl—and let me free?
Garrison's FinishW. B. M. Ferguson
"Perhaps she will elope," the doctor said to his wife, humorously.
The Man Who WinsRobert Herrick
Well if one is on his way to elope—it is all the same:—one must have a companion, if not the one, then the other.'
Debts of HonorMaurus Jkai
elope
- (intr) to run away secretly with a lover, esp in order to marry
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Word Origin
C16: from Anglo-French aloper, perhaps from Middle Dutch lōpen to run; see lope
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for elope
v.
1590s, "to run off," probably a reborrowing from Middle Dutch (ont)lopen "run away." Sense of "run from parents to marry secretly" is 19c. Anglo-French aloper "run away from a husband with one's lover" is attested from mid-14c., but there is a gap of many years.
The Anglo-French word represents Old French es- + Middle English lepen "run, leap" (see leap (v.)).
The oldest Germanic word for "wedding" is represented by Old English brydlop (cf. Old High German bruthlauft, Old Norse bruðhlaup), literally "bride run," the conducting of the woman to her new home. Related: Eloped; eloping.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper