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elude - 4 dictionary results

e⋅lude

  [i-lood]
Use elude in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), e⋅lud⋅ed, e⋅lud⋅ing.
1. to avoid or escape by speed, cleverness, trickery, etc.; evade: to elude capture.
2. to escape the understanding, perception, or appreciation of: The answer eludes me.
Origin:
1530–40; < L ēlūdere to deceive, evade, equiv. to ē- e- + lūdere to play, deceive

Related forms:
e⋅lud⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
1. shun, dodge. See escape.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To elude
e·lude   (ĭ-lōōd')   
tr.v.   e·lud·ed, e·lud·ing, e·ludes
  1. To evade or escape from, as by daring, cleverness, or skill: The suspect continues to elude the police.
  2. To escape the understanding or grasp of: a name that has always eluded me; a metaphor that eluded them. See Synonyms at escape.

[Latin ēlūdere : ē-, ex-, ex- + lūdere, to play (from lūdus, play; see leid- in Indo-European roots).]
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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Elude

E*lude"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Eluded; p. pr. & vb. n. Eluding.] [L. eludere, elusum; e + ludere to play: cf. F. ['e]luder. See Ludicrous.] To avoid slyly, by artifice, stratagem, or dexterity; to escape from in a covert manner; to mock by an unexpected escape; to baffle; as, to elude an officer; to elude detection, inquiry, search, comprehension; to elude the force of an argument or a blow.

Me gentle Delia beckons from the plain, Then, hid in shades, eludes he eager swain. --Pope.

The transition from fetichism to polytheism seems a gradual process of which the stages elude close definition. --Tylor.

Syn: To evade; avoid; escape; shun; eschew; flee; mock; baffle; frustrate; foil.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : elude
Spanish: eludir, escapar,
German: entwischen,
Japanese: 避ける
More Translations »

elude 
1538, "delude, make a fool of," from L. eludere "escape from, make a fool of, win from at play," from ex- "out, away" + ludere "to play" (see ludicrous). Sense of "evade" is first recorded 1612. Elusive first attested 1725.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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