elide

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēlīdō (“to strike out, crush, force out”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} formed from ē- (“out”), a variant of ex-,^[2][3][7] and laedō (“to strike, dash, hurt”), in its combining form.^{[2][3][7][4][5][8]} Barnhart allows for a passage through Middle French élider,^[3] and Etymonline derives the English verb from French,^[7] while the OED only compares the French verb, recorded from 1548 and earliest in grammar.^[2] In Latin the verb already had the grammatical sense of omitting letters and the legal sense of invalidating,^[2] and in its grammatical use it translated Ancient Greek ἐκθλίβω (ekthlíbō, “to squeeze out”).^[7] It is related to collide and lesion.^[3][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

To omit a vowel or syllable in pronunciation: 1540, in J. Palsgrave's translation of Gnapheus's comedy of Acolastus, according to the OED's revision of 2018.^[2] Older dictionaries begin with other senses: Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged with "destroy" in Richard Hooker (1593),^[3][9] Etymonline with the legal term of the 1590s,^[7] and the Oxford Dictionary of English with "annul", a mainly Scots legal term of the mid 16th century.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Two lines of meaning run side by side, both already in Latin.^[2] In the law, chiefly in Scotland, elide meant to annul or rebut, from about 1554,^[2][6] a use Wright labels obsolete and illustrates from Scott (1818).^[11] From 1593 to 1829 it could also mean to destroy or to make of no account, as in Hooker, where the force of an argument is elided.^[2][12][6] Johnson (1755) glossed Hooker's use as "to cut in pieces", and in 1773 as "to break in pieces; to crush".^[12] The grammatical line has lasted: Barnhart and Etymonline, with less evidence, first found it in 1796.^[3][7] From it came the merging of sounds or words (1821), the shortening of a word or phrase (1831), and, by 1846, the passing over of something in silence.^[2] Since 1952 the verb has also been used of conflating concepts or facts.^[2]

Timeline

• 1540 – to omit a vowel or syllable in pronunciation.^[2]
• c. 1554 – in Scots law, to annul or quash.^[2]
• 1593 – to destroy or nullify (obsolete by 1829).^[2][3]
• 1821 – to merge or blend sounds or words.^[2]
• 1831 – to shorten or contract a word or phrase.^[2]
• 1846 – to pass over in silence, to suppress from an account.^[2]
• 1952 – to conflate concepts or facts.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To leave out a vowel, syllable or other sound in pronunciation, by elision: Fast talkers elide the middle syllable of that word.^[13][9][2]
2. To merge sounds or words, or to contract a word or phrase.^[2]
3. To pass over something in silence, or to strike it out of a text or account: The memoir elides the years he spent abroad.^[2][9]
4. To conflate concepts or facts.^[2]
5. (law) Chiefly in Scotland, to annul, quash or rebut.^[2][9][11]
6. (obsolete, 1593–1829) To destroy or make of no account.^[2][6][9]

Word family

• unelided

Related words

• elision
• allision
• collide
• collision
• lesion

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
12. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
13. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins