Other forms: eluded, eluding, eludes
To elude is to escape from somebody, or from your memory. Elude capture, the name eludes me, eluded them for years.
The escape is by cleverness rather than force, and the figurative use is the commoner one — sleep eluded her, the answer eludes me. Note elusive, which is the adjective; and allude, a different word meaning to refer indirectly. The Latin behind both means to play, so eluding is playing your way out.
1verbeludeTo escape from somebody by cleverness.
“The thief eluded the police by escaping over the rooftops.”
2verbfailTo fail to come to mind.
“I know that actor's face, but his name eludes me.”
elude is an escaping.
Latin eludere is ex plus ludere, to play. Illusion, allude and ludicrous come from the same playing.
Latin
ēlūdō — to evade, elude
English, today
elude
Built from
From Latin ēlūdō (“to evade, elude”), from ē- (“out of”) + lūdō (“to play; to trick”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA