Gretna Green

Etymology
"Green at the gravelly hill", from (in the dative form ) and.

Proper noun

 * ), famous for easy marriages.

Noun

 * 1) Any town with liberal marriage laws, a place where couples elope.

Adjective

 * 1) carried out quickly and secretively in a jurisdiction that is not the bride or groom's own.
 * 2) * 1833, R. Longley, private correspondence quoted in Peter Ward, Courtship, Love, and Marriage in Nineteenth-Century English Canada, page 110:
 * There has been a Gretna Green marriage in Brockville. Miss Mary Ann Hall and a Mr. Underwood ran away to Ogdensburg (New York) and got married last week and was back again the night before last.
 * 1) * 1836 August, 'Orson', "East Florida—Alligators—the Seminoles, etc.", The Knickerbocker Magazine, page 150:
 * He made a very pleasant morning's sport, especially as it was my first conquest, and entitled me to all the privileges of a Floridian. At this my favorite place of resort, a Gretna-Green affair happened, just before my arrival, and was witnessed by a companion who was often with me