Gretna Green

American  

noun

1. a village in S Scotland, near the English border, to which many English couples formerly eloped to be married.

---

Gretna Green British  

/ ˈɡrɛtnə /

noun

1. a village in S Scotland, in Dumfries and Galloway on the border with England: famous smithy where eloping couples were married by the blacksmith from 1754 until 1940, when such marriages became illegal. Pop: 2705 (2001)

---

Example Sentences

New plans have been submitted for a giant landmark artwork - the Star of Caledonia - to be built on the Scotland-England border near Gretna Green.

From BBC

She said the animal has been lying down next to a Department of Water and Power building on the corner of San Vincente Boulevard and South Gretna Green Way, at the northwest corner of Brentwood Country Club.

From Los Angeles Times

But, as they drove into Gretna Green at 5pm on Thursday, they received a text from P&O saying their ferry was cancelled.

From BBC

She has the consolation of history, at least, moving on from ghastly scenes of teens whisked to Gretna Green, Scotland — the Las Vegas of its time — to upstart Americans with fresh new money from railroads, baking powder and the like, eager for the finishing touch of an English title and ready to fix — and raise — the roof of the “ancestral pile.”

From New York Times

He said his priority was to see the A75 - the road linking Stranraer on the west coast to Gretna Green - improved but that he'd "welcome anything which might help improve links between the so-called Northern Powerhouse and Scotland's Central Belt, right to the coast and across the Irish Sea".

From BBC