elopement

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of secretly running away with a partner in order to marry, often without family approval

   Their elopement shocked both families, who had expected a large formal wedding.

2. 2
   noun

   an unauthorized departure by someone from a home, school, or care institution

   The care home revised its security procedures after a resident's elopement.

Formed in the early eighteenth century from elope + -ment. Elope probably came through Anglo-Norman law French, where aloper referred to a married woman running away from her husband; its meaning narrowed to running away secretly with a lover to marry.

Topics