Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To evade or escape from, as by daring, cleverness, or skill: synonym: evade.
  • transitive verb To escape the memory or understanding of.
  • transitive verb To be unnattained by.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To avoid by artifice, stratagem, deceit, or dexterity; escape; evade: as, to elude pursuit; to elude a blow or stroke.
  • To remain unseen, undiscovered, or unexplained, by; baffle the inquiry or scrutiny of: as, secrets that elude the keenest search.
  • Synonyms To shun, flee, shirk, dodge, baffle, foil, frustrate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To avoid slyly, by artifice, stratagem, or dexterity; to escape from in a covert manner; to mock by an unexpected escape; to baffle

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To evade, or escape from someone or something, especially by using cunning or skill.
  • verb transitive To shake off a pursuer; to give someone the slip.
  • verb transitive To escape understanding of; to be incomprehensible to.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb avoid or try to avoid fulfilling, answering, or performing (duties, questions, or issues)
  • verb be incomprehensible to; escape understanding by
  • verb escape, either physically or mentally

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin ēlūdere : ē-, ex-, ex- + lūdere, to play (from lūdus, play; see leid- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin ēlūdō ("evade, elude"), from ē ("out of"), short form of ex, + lūdō ("play; trick").

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