c.1300, from Old French eclipse "eclipse, darkness" (12c.), from Latin eclipsis, from Greek ekleipsis "an eclipse; an abandonment," literally "a failing, forsaking," from ekleipein "to forsake a usual place, fail to appear, be eclipsed," from ek "out" (see ex-) + leipein "to leave" (cognate with Latin linquere; see relinquish).

late 13c., "to cause an eclipse of," from Old French eclipser, from eclipse (see eclipse, n.).Figurative use from 1570s. Also in Middle English in an intransitive sense "to suffer an eclipse," now obsolete. Related: Eclipsed; eclipsing.