elope

[Thomas Paikeday]

Is the use of "elope" in the old sense of "escape" common in
contemporary English? All the usages in my 1989-1990 database are in the
sense of "run away together to get married" as in "Dick eloped with
Jane"and "They eloped."

I was surprised to see the following usages in _The Day the Voices
Stopped (a memoir of madness and hope)_ by Ken Steele and Claire Berman
(Basic Books, 2001):

"For one thing, I was worried that if people knew my real name, they'd
soon learn that I'd eloped from Metropolitan...." (p. 97). "For no clear
reason, except that I was bored and was being prodded to get on with my
death, I eloped from the Lodge during one of our recreational trips...."
(p. 152)