Eloper

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who runs away secretly to get married, often without parental consent or public announcement, usually to avoid the formalities and restrictions of traditional weddings
2. Someone who absconds to unite in matrimony, typically bypassing customary ceremonies and familial approval, choosing privacy or haste over public celebration
3. An individual who flees to wed in secret, avoiding conventional nuptial procedures and social expectations, often to escape objections or complications from others

Etymology: The verb "elope" has a more surprising origin than its everyday sense suggests. It comes from Anglo-Norman "aloper", which was built from Old English-era Germanic roots: a prefix meaning "away" joined to a verb meaning "to run" (in the sense of leaping or bounding). The original meaning was simply to run away, and specifically to run off from a husband or wife, leaving a marriage behind. The matrimonial sense of eloping, running off to marry, is a later narrowing that only emerged in English, and the older and broader sense of abandoning a spouse faded over time. The noun "eloper" is a plain English formation: the verb "elope" with the agent suffix "-er", meaning one who does the action. The suffix itself traces back through Old French and Latin to ancient Indo-European roots, though its job here is simply to turn a verb into a person.

Synonyms: runaway spouse, fugitive bride, bridegroom who elopes

Antonyms: married person, wedded spouse