verb Of a married or engaged person, to run away from home with a paramour.
verb Of an unmarried person, to run away secretly for the purpose of getting married with one's intended spouse; to marry in a quick or private fashion, especially without a public period of engagement.
verb Of an unmarried person, to run away secretly from home in order to get married without parental or guardian consent.
verb To escape from one's caretaker.
Six-year-old Casey eloped during recess and police found him watching traffic lights at the intersection.
verb To run away from home (for any reason).
verb ↑ In 18th- and 19th-century British contexts, elopement specifically implied an act of legal and social rebellion by minors (those under the age of 21) against a parent or guardian whose legal consent was required to marry under English law. Such elopements are overwhelmingly associated with flights to Scotland (most famously to border villages like Gretna Green), where marriage laws were far more lenient and did not require parental consent, a period of residence, or a formal marriage license.