elope English · revision 2251

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɪˈləʊ̯p/ ''(UK)''; /ɪˈloʊ̯p/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|xno|aloper|t=to run away from a husband with a lover]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) perhaps formed from ''a-'' “away” (Old French ''es-'') and Middle Dutch ''lopen'' “to run”.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) Etymonline and Barnhart prefer a direct borrowing or reborrowing of [[dum|ontlopen|t=to run away]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) from ''ont-'' “away from” and ''lopen'' “to run”,^(AHD)^(Etymonline) related to English ''leap''.^(Etymonline) Random House instead posits a Middle English ''*alopen'' “to run away”.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In law, of a wife: to run away from her husband with a lover (Anglo-French ''aloper'', 1338).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995) The general English sense, “to run away, escape”, dates from 1596.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Barnhart notes that the gap of some 250 years between the Anglo-French and the English uses suggests a fresh borrowing from Dutch.^(Barnhart 1995) The sense most often used today, of lovers running away from home to marry secretly, usually without parental consent, is first recorded in the 19th century.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1628.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1338 – Anglo-French ''aloper'', of a wife running off with a lover.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1596 – to run away, escape, abscond.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1598 – ''elopement''.^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 19th century – to run away secretly to marry.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To run away secretly with a lover, especially in order to marry without parental consent.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To run away from one's spouse with a lover.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To run away; to escape or abscond.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[elopement]]

+ * [[eloper]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[lope]]

+ * [[leap]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}