† eˈloinment, eˈloignment Obs.
Also 7 esloinment, 8 eloignement.
[a. AF. esloignement, Fr. éloignement: see eloin and -ment.]
1. Removal to a distance.
| 1678–96 Phillips, Eloinment, a removing a great way off. 1847 in Craig; and in mod. Dicts. |
2. a. The space or distance between one object and another. b. Distance, in the sense of the distant part or background of a scene or of a picture.
| a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 92 The sun..appears to us no bigger than a platter..because of that esloinment..between our eyes and the object. 1715–20 Pope Iliad I. 291 In the eloignement we behold Jupiter in golden armour. |
3. fig. Remoteness in feeling or taste (from).
| a 1763 Shenstone Ess. 146 He discovers an eloignment from vulgar phrases. |