eloign

English

Alternative forms

• eloin [17th-19th c.]
• esloyne [16th-17th c.]

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman esloignier, Old French esloignier, from Late Latin exlongare.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ɪˈlɔɪn/

Verb

eloign (third-person singular simple present eloigns, present participle eloigning, simple past and past participle eloigned)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To remove (something) to a distance.
   • 1860, Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union

     Those States have assume the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other States.

2. (reflexive, now rare) To remove (oneself); to retire, move away (from).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.iv:

     From worldy cares himselfe he did esloyne, / And greatly shunned manly exercise [...].

Anagrams

• legion