Gretna Green adjective 1noun 1forms 1 adjective1 •carried out quickly and secretively in a jurisdiction that is not the bride or groom's own. (of a marriage)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. — 1833 noun1 •Any town with liberal marriage laws, a place where couples elope.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” formsGretna Greens
