elope

[ ih-lohp ]

/ ɪˈloʊp /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR elope ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), e·loped, e·lop·ing.

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.

Nearby words

Origin of elope

1590–1600; Middle English *alopen to run away (whence Anglo-French aloper). See a-³, lope

Related forms

e·lope·ment, noune·lop·er, nounnon·e·lope·ment, nounun·e·loped, adjective

un·e·lop·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for elope

On Dec. 22, 1799, Sands told her cousins that she would be leaving to elope with a fellow boarder named Levi Weeks that night.
New York’s Most Tragic Ghost Loves Minimalist Swedish Fashion|Nina Strochlic|January 8, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Daughters who elope and dare to choose their own husbands are also considered dishonorable.
India's Strangely Modern Killing Spree|Kiran Bedi|July 11, 2010|DAILY BEAST
I wanted to elope, but Charles really wants to have a party for our friends.
The D.C. Sex Blogger on How She Went From Slut to Housewife|Jessica Cutler|December 10, 2008|DAILY BEAST
At Marsillac's boyish supplication, Ninon consented to elope with him.
Superwomen|Albert Payson Terhune

He was frightfully rich, and so she agreed to elope with him.
Sinister Street, vol. 1|Compton Mackenzie
She'll make one of the high-flyers, without a grain of sense, and I dare say elope with the coachman.
The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe|Amanda Minnie Douglas
"Well, we must elope with fear and trembling or it won't count," he cried.
Nedra|George Barr McCutcheon
An apprentice of a cordwainer in the town ran away in 1764, or, as it was worded on the police notice, "did elope from service."
From John O'Groats to Land's End|Robert Naylor and John Naylor

British Dictionary definitions for elope

elope

/ (ɪˈləʊp) /

verb

(intr) to run away secretly with a lover, esp in order to marry

Derived Formselopement, nouneloper, noun

Word Origin for elope

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for elope

elope

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.

elope

verb (used without object), e·loped, e·lop·ing.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of elope

Examples from the Web for elope

elope

verb

Word Origin for elope

elope