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. (1693), 92. The Sun in the Firmament appears unto us no bigger then a Platter … because of that Esloinment and Disproportion 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.
