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elude
5 dictionary results for: elude
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
e·lude       [i-lood] Pronunciation Key
–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 élūdere to deceive, evade, equiv. to é- e- + lūdere to play, deceive]

—Related forms
e·lud·er, noun

—Synonyms 1. shun, dodge. See escape.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
e·lude       (ĭ-lōōd')  Pronunciation Key 
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).]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
elude

verb
1. escape, either physically or mentally; "The thief eluded the police"; "This difficult idea seems to evade her"; "The event evades explanation" 
2. be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by; "What you are seeing in him eludes me" 
3. avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues); "He dodged the issue"; "she skirted the problem"; "They tend to evade their responsibilities"; "he evaded the questions skillfully" 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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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