lovesome, a. Now arch. or dial.
(ˈlʌvsəm)
Forms: 1–6 lufsum, 3 luffsumm, 3–5 lussum, 3 luvesum, 4 luffsum, lufsoum, lufsome, lussom, lossum, lossom, loovesum, 4–5 lofsom, lufsom, lovesum, 4–6 lovesom, 6 loveseme, lusum, ? luxom(e, lufesum, lufesome, Sc. luifsum, 5– lovesome.
[OE. lufsum, f. luf-u love n.1: see -some. (The contracted forms lussom, lossom, -um, seem to occur only in sense 2.)]
1. Worthy of love; having qualities that inspire love; lovable.
| a 1000 Crist 913 (Gr.) Lufsum and liþe leofum monnum to sceawianne þone scynan wlite. c 1200 Ormin 3583 Daviþess name..itt uss tacneþþ stang wiþþ hannd, & luffsumm onn to lokenn. a 1225 Juliana 13 Ihesu crist..þat ich on leue & luuie as leoflukest & lufsumest lauerd. c 1325 Deo Gratias 29 in E.E.P. (1862) 125 A louesum buirde he lihte with-Inne Þe worþiest þat euer was. 1430 Hymns Virg. 29 Hise louesum lijf þat alle men siȝe[n], Ful myldeli he out gan lete. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xv. 33 Thow luifsum Lark & gay Goldspink,..Lat be ȝour heuinly noitis. 1676 G. Etherege Man of Mode iii. iii, Wild, witty, lovesome, beautiful and young. 1899 Swinburne Rosamund iii. 60, I know not Aught lovesome save the sweet brief death of sleep. |
2. Lovable on account of beauty; lovely, beautiful.
| a 1225 St. Marher. 3 Ant wel hire schal iwurthen for hire lussum leor. a 1240 Wohunge in Cott. Hom. 269 Þu art lufsum on leor, þu art al schene. a 1300 Cursor M. 604 A luuesum land at lenger in. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 26 Hire rode is ase rose that red is on rys, With lilye-white leres lossum he is. Ibid. 51 A burde of blod ant of bon Never ȝete y nuste non lussomore in londe. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 2816 Ysonde haue þere he wald Luffsum vnder line. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 465 O lufsom lady bryght, How haue ye faren syn þat ye were þere? c 1420 Anturs of Arth. 344 (Douce MS.) A lady, lufsom of lote, ledand a kniȝte. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 1215 He saw..Com fra heuen a lufsom lyght. 15.. in Dunbar's Poems (1893) 326 Fair lufsum lady, gentill and discret. 1820 Scott Monast. xiv, The handsomest, the very lovesomest young man I ever saw with sight. 1842 Tennyson Beggar Maid 12 One praised her ancles, one her eyes, One her dark hair and lovesome mien. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. ii. 323 He heard a sudden lovesome song begun. |
| absol. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1814 ‘Nay..’ Quod þat lufsum vnder lyne. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 398 Þen sayde þat lufsoum of lyth & lere [etc.]. |
3. Loving, friendly.
| c 1200 Ormin 1547 Aᵹᵹ to follᵹhenn soþ meocleᵹᵹc Wiþþ luffsumm æddmodnesse. 1566 Drant Horace's Sat. i. ii. B b, But they, the sillye fonded fooles,..Do feaste him, for his louesom loue. 1868 Browning Ring & Bk. viii. 20 Won't we hold Our little yearly lovesome frolic feast. 1901 H. C. Welch Anselm iii. 48 This increasing influence was due to the happy lovesome temper which plays through his letters. |
4. Amorous.
| 1720 Mrs. Manley Power of Love (1741) 150 Caton, who being naturally Lovesome, put herself in his way at every opportunity, so that he could not help saying soft things to her. 1844 Kinglake Eothen vii. (1878) 92 Shrubs that twined their arms together in lovesome tangles. 1883 Longm. Mag. Sept. 533 While lovesome and moansome thereon spake and falter'd the dove to the dove. |
Hence
† lovesomehead = lovesomeness.
| a 1300–1400 Cursor M. 5792 (Gött.), I sal þaim bring fra þat thralhede, And into a land of lufsum-hede. |