Cloaking
Disappearing from a romantic interest
Example
Julia ran into Jason after he had been cloaking her for months
I bet that was not a pretty picture
Cloaking to break up with your gf
Related Slang
| Ghosting | Leaving without saying goodbye |
| Submarining | Dating a person, disappearing, then reappearing |
| Irish goodbye | Leaving without saying goodbye |
| Dutch leave | Leaving without saying goodbye |
| French exit | Leaving without saying goodbye |
| Bye Felicia | Goodbye |
| Benching | Using a person as a backup date |
| Haunting | Following a romantic partner on social media after abruptly leaving them |
| Caking | Flirting |
| Roaching | Secretly dating many romantic partners at the same time |
| Slow fade | To gradually stop talking to someone |
| Pocketing | Dating a person you are uncertain about |
| gf | Girlfriend |
| bf | Boyfriend |
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In dating, cloaking is when a person purposely hides from a romantic partner. It is similar to ghosting, but instead of just disappearing, the "cloaker" blocks you online, including across social and dating apps.
It is unclear who coined the cloaking term, but it gained popularity in the late-2010s as a more sinister version of ghosting. The term comes from the cloaking capability where a person hides with a magical device (think of the Harry Potter and Frodo cloaks).
Reasons for cloaking
There are various reasons for cloaking when dating, including the fear of commitment or breaking up, or trying to end an extramarital relationship. For example, a person may cheat on their spouse, then cut off all forms of contact with the person they were cheating with to end the affair without getting caught.
Just like with ghosting, cloaking a romantic partner is incredibly unkind. Unless you want to leave a bitter trail of exes, you should at least do the courtesy of telling them why you want to end the relationship.