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elope

 - 3 dictionary results

e⋅lope

[i-lohp]
–verb (used without object), e⋅loped, e⋅lop⋅ing.
1. to run off secretly to be married, usually without the consent or knowledge of one's parents.
2. to run away with a lover.
3. to leave without permission or notification; escape.

Origin:
1590–1600; ME *alopen to run away (whence AF aloper). See a- 3 , lope


e⋅lope⋅ment, noun
e⋅lop⋅er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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e·lope   (ĭ-lōp')   
intr.v.   e·loped, e·lop·ing, e·lopes
  1. To run away with a lover, especially with the intention of getting married.

  2. To run away; abscond.


[Perhaps Anglo-Norman aloper, to run away from one's husband with a lover, from Middle Dutch ontlopen, to run away : ont-, away from, along; see ant- in Indo-European roots + lopen, to run.]
e·lope'ment n., e·lop'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

elope 
1596, from Anglo-Fr. aloper "run away from a husband with one's lover" (1338), from O.Fr es- + M.E. lepen "run, leap," or M.Du. (out)lopen "run away." Sense of "lovers who run from parents to marry secretly" is 19c. The oldest Gmc. word for "wedding" is represented by O.E. brydlop (cf. O.H.G. bruthlauft, O.N. bruðhlaup), lit. "bridal run," the conducting of the woman to her new home.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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