ˈlove-letter
A letter written by a lover to the beloved, and expressing amatory sentiments.
| [a 1240 Wohunge in Cott. Hom. 283 A swete ihesu þu oppnes me þin herte for to cnawe witerliche and in to reden trewe luue lettres.] 1598 Shakes. Merry W. ii. i. 1 What! haue I scap'd loue-letters in the holly-day-time of my beauty, and am I now a subiect for them? 1622 Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 260 A loue-letter brought her by her maid. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Lady Rich 16 Mar., I have got for you, as you desire, a Turkish love-letter. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 21 Our village beauty had fairly reached her twentieth year..without the slightest suspicion of her having ever written a love-letter. 1901 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 496/1 The young people interchange love-letters. |