Phrase guide

Gretna Green

adj · name · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

carried out quickly and secretively in a jurisdiction that is not the bride or groom's own. (of a marriage)

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

name

Meaning 2

A village on the border between England and Scotland (in Dumfries and Galloway council area just inside Scotland), famous for easy marriages (OS grid ref NY3168).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Federal Writers Project (1952), West Virginia: A Guide to the Mountain State, →ISBN, page 485: “A town of narrow streets and smoke-begrimed old buildings, Wellsburg thrived as a Gretna Green for many years”

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

"Green at the gravelly hill", from Old English greot (“grit”) and hoh (“hill”).