Elopement is a marriage which is conducted in a sudden and secretive fashion, sometimes involving a hurried flight away from one's place of residence together with one's beloved with the intention of getting married without parental approval. An elopement is contrasted with an abduction (e.g., a bride kidnapping), in which either the bride or groom has not consented,[1] or a shotgun wedding in which the parents of one (prototypically the bride's) coerce both into marriage.
Controversially, in modern times, elopement is sometimes applied to any small, inexpensive wedding, even when it is performed with parental foreknowledge.[2]
The term elopement is sometimes used in its original, more general sense of escape or flight, e.g. an escape from a psychiatric institution. In this context, elopement (or wandering) can refer to a patient with dementia leaving the psychiatric unit without authorization.[3][2] It has also referred to a married person leaving their spouse in order to run away with a third party.[4]
- ^ Ayres, Barbara "Bride Theft and Raiding for Wives in Cross-Cultural Perspective,” Anthropological Quarterly, Vol. 47, No. 3, Kidnapping and Elopement as Alternative Systems of Marriage (Special Issue) (July 1974), p. 245
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Psychiatric Elopement: Using Evidence to Examine Causative Factors and Preventative Measures [1]
- ^ Krivulskaya, Suzanna (January 2020). "The Itinerant Passions of Protestant Pastors: Ministerial Elopement Scandals in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era Press". The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. 19 (1): 77–95. doi:10.1017/S1537781419000458. ISSN 1537-7814.