Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
town in Scotland just across the border, proverbial from late 18c. as the customery place for English couples to run off and be married without parental consent.
Wikipedia
Gretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland famous for runaway weddings. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, near the mouth of the River Esk and was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green railway station serves both Gretna Green and Gretna. The Quintinshill rail crash, the worst rail crash in British history (226 recorded deaths), occurred near Gretna Green in 1915.
Gretna Green sits alongside the main town of Gretna. Both are accessed from the A74(M) motorway and are near the border of Scotland with England.
Gretna Green is a 1915 American silent romantic comedy film directed by Thomas N. Heffron and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It is based on the Broadway play by Grace Livingston Furniss and stars Marguerite Clark. The film is now presumed lost.
The film and the play are based on the fame of the Scottish town Gretna Green. The town has become a popular destination for couples who want to legally marry as people under the age of 16 can do so without their parents' consent.
Usage examples of "gretna green".
On Thursday, having signed up for a bus trip to Carlisle and Gretna Green, Susan arrived early at the terminal off St.
Fifteen minutes at Gretna Green, the goal of so many eloping English couples in the eighteenth century.
I have a friend with property in the area, and he tells me that the inns are full of women who have been compromised on the way to Gretna Green but never wed.
My name is Concordia Lannington and he's trying to force me into a Gretna Green marriage!
It would be in keeping with all the rest if he is bearing her off to Gretna Green, but where he found the money for such a journey is again more than I can tell!
Next day they let me do the Gretna Green girl in both performances, and gave me ten bob for the two.
Why should we wait until next week to be married when we can leave for Gretna Green this very afternoon and be sharing a bed before this week is done?
Even if I don't think his Grace is the husband for you, I don't think a flight to Gretna Green just days before your wedding is the thing either.
I even sent one of my servants on to Gretna Green, to see if Isaac and his lady had been there, but there was no trace of him.