▪ I. love, n.1
(lʌv)
Forms: 1 lufu, (lufo), 2–4 luve, 3 lou, 4, 6 loove, 5 louf, loof, 4–5 lof, lofe, 5 luf, lufue, (Sc. 4–6 luf(e, luff, 5, 8 luffe, 6 luif(e, 6, 8 luve, 6 luwe, luyf, luiff, lwiff, loif), 3– love.
[OE. lufu str. fem. (also declined weak) = OHG. luba:—Teut. type *luƀâ, not found elsewhere, though Goth. has (brôþru-)lubô wk. fem., love, and lubains (stem -aini-) str. fem., hope; f. the weak-grade of the Teut. root *leuƀ-: lauƀ-: luƀ-:—OAryan *leubh-: loubh-: lubh-. Other derivatives of the wk.-grade are OS. lubig loving, and the Com. Teut. *luƀo-m, *loƀo-m lof and its derivative *loƀôjan love v.2; also OHG. gilob precious. Cognates belonging to the other grades of the root (1) from the eu grade, Com. Teut. *liuƀo- lief a., and its derivatives OHG. liobôn (MHG., mod.G. lieben), Du. lieven (obs., superseded by liefhebben lit. ‘to have dear’), OE. léofian, MDu. lieven, OHG. *liubên (MHG. lieben) to be dear or agreeable, OHG. liuben (MHG. lieben) to endear, to show kindness; MDu., Du. liefde fem., love; OHG. liubî wk. fem., liuba str. fem. (MHG. liebe), MDu. lieve fem., love; (2) from the au grade, the Teut. types *lauƀâ, *galauƀon-, *galauƀjan, etc. (see leave n.1, belief, believe v.).
Outside Teut. the Aryan root is represented by L. lubet (libet) it is pleasing, lubīdo (libīdo) desire, OSl. ljubŭ dear, ljuby love, ljubiti to love, Skr. lubh to desire, lōbha masc. desire.]
1. a. That disposition or state of feeling with regard to a person which (arising from recognition of attractive qualities, from instincts of natural relationship, or from sympathy) manifests itself in solicitude for the welfare of the object, and usually also in delight in his or her presence and desire for his or her approval; warm affection, attachment. Const. of, for, to, towards.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter cviii. 5 Settun wið me yfel fore godum & laeððu fore lufan minre. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. John xv. 13 Næfð nan man maran lufe þonne ðeos ys þæt hwa sylle his lif for his freondum. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 8 And to alle cristenei men beren pais and luue bi-twen. a 1300 Cursor M. 20300 Vre leuedi wep, saint iohan alsua, Treu luue was omang þam tua. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 155 Wommen moste be ouercome with fairenesse and loue, and nouȝt wiþ sternesse and drede. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) Pref. 2 What lufe he had til his sugets. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. viii. 44 He wende that al the kynges & knyghtes had come for grete loue and to haue done hym worship at his feste. 1535 Coverdale 2 Sam. i. 26 Thy loue hath bene more speciall vnto me, then the loue of wemen. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 415 My loue to thee is sound sans cracke or flaw. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. Pref., Adiuring me by the loue of my contrie. 1611 Bible Dan. i. 9 God had brought Daniel into fauour and tender loue with the Prince of the Eunuches. 1765 Cowper in Southey Life & Wks. (1835) I. 155 My heart was full of love to all the congregation. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) II. 346 The natural love which Thomas Kirby bore to his brother. 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 279 His dominant spirit, and his love for the white men, were evinced in his latest breath. 1871 Morley Voltaire (1886) 2 They should prove their love of him whom they had not seen, by love of their brothers whom they had seen. |
b. Viewed as an abstract quality or principle. (Sometimes
personified.)
| c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 343/32 Affectu, for hylde and lufe. a 1300 Cursor M. 99 O reuth o loue and charite, Was neuer hir mak. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. i. 146 For trewthe telleþ þat loue is triacle of heuene. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 135 Humylite Engendryth lowe that destrueth envy and hatredyn. 1557 Seager Sch. Vertue 815 in Babees Bk., Loue doth moue the mynde to mercie. a 1628 Preston Breastpl. Love (1631) 8 Love and hatred are..the great Lords and Masters, that divide the rest of the affections between them. 1811 Coleridge 7 Lect. (1856) 70 Love is a desire of the whole being to be united to some thing, or some being, felt necessary to its completeness. |
c. In particularized use: An instance of affection.
† Also, an act of kindness.
| c 1000 Prayers of Exeter Bk. iv. 115 Wæs a cearu symle lufena to leane. c 1200 Moral Ode 314 in Trin. Coll. Hom., Þe þe þos two luues halt and wile hes wel healde. 1595 Shakes. John iv. i. 49 What good loue may I performe for you? 1632 Lithgow Trav. v. 189, I met with an English ship..whose loues I cannot easily forget. a 1853 Robertson Lect. i. (1858) 25 The same feelings and anxieties and loves. |
† d. In
OE. (contrasted with
laᵹu law): Amicable settlement, as opposed to litigation. Hence, in later use,
occas. rendering L.
fœdus treaty, covenant. Also,
under love and law; a phrase used to denote the position of being a member of a frankpledge.
Obs.| a 1000 Laws of æthelred iii. c. 13 §1 (Schmid) And þar þeᵹen aᵹe tweᵹen costas lufe oþþe laᵹe and he þonne lufe ᵹeceose. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 99 Oreb..the mownte of fere and of luffe [L. mons terroris et fœderis]. Ibid. II. 347, IV. 123. a 1500 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 90 Yf ther bee ony persone wythin the warde that is not vnder francpledge that is to saye under loue and lawe. |
e. (give) my love to.., or
love to..: a formula of request that the person addressed will convey the expression of the speaker's or writer's affection to a third person. Also
to send one's love;
love from{ddd}
| 1630 Winthrop in New Eng. (1825) I. 378 Commend me to all our friends. My love and blessing to your brother and sisters [etc.]. 1765 Cowper Let. to J. Hill 14 Aug., My love to all your family. 1785 Lady Newdigate Let. May in A. E. Newdigate-Newdegate Cheverels (1898) iv. 67 Love from all here Adieu. 1793 ― Let. to W. Hayley 24 Feb., With Mary's kind love. 1837 Dickens Pickw. ix, Love to Tuppy! 1854 W. Collins Hide & Seek ii. iv. (1861) 183, ‘I will write and comfort your mother this very afternoon ―’ ‘Give her my love’, interposed Zack. 1913 W. Owen Let. 19 Oct. (1967) 202 Love, Hopes, and Kisses from your own Wilfred. 1921 A. Huxley Let. 21 Nov. (1969) 205, I will telephone or write about both these dates. Love from Aldous. 1949 D. Smith I capture Castle xi. 188 Dear Cassandra, it was nice of you to write... Love from Neil. |
2. In religious use, applied in an eminent sense to the paternal benevolence and affection of God towards His children, to the affectionate devotion due to God from His creatures, and to the affection of one created being to another so far as it is prompted by the sense of their common relationship to God. (
Cf. charity 1.)
Theologians distinguish the
love of complacency, which implies approval of qualities in the object, and the
love of benevolence, which is bestowed irrespective of the character of the object.
| c 975 Rushw. Gosp. John v. 42 Ah ic cuðe iowih þætte lufo ᵹodes ne habbas ᵹe in iow. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 141 Ure drihten forgiaf hire hire sinnen for two þinge, an is muchel leððe to hire sunne oðer muchel luue to him. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 70 Jhesu, suete love the dude gredyn. 1526 Tindale 1 John v. 3 This is the love of god, that we kepe his commaundementes. 1611 Bible 1 John iv. 16 God is loue, and hee that dwelleth in loue, dwelleth in God. 1650 E. Leigh Annot. New Test. 220 There is a two fold love in God. 1. Amor benevolentiæ, a love of well willing..2. Amor complacentiæ, a love of complacency. 1794 Coleridge Relig. Musings 192 Lord of unsleeping Love, From everlasting Thou! 1876 Mozley Univ. Serm. ii. 29 Love in the Gospel sense is that general virtue which covers the motives. |
3. Strong predilection, liking or fondness
for, or devotion
to (something). Const.
of,
for,
to (
arch.),
† unto.
† to give, bear love to: to be devoted or addicted to.
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iv. xxvii. (Schipper) 514 Swa mycel lufu to godcundre lare. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 4067 And for luue of ðis hore-plaȝe Manie for-leten godes laȝe. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 218 Philosophie is no more but loue of witte and cvnnynge. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 237 b, Blynde avarice and love of money. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 2 For the loue that he bare vnto peace. 1726 Pope Postscript to Odyssey V. 305 Let our love to Antiquity be ever so great. 1773 Mrs. Chapone Improv. Mind (1774) II. 32 The love of truth, and a real desire of improvement. c 1810 Coleridge in Lit. Rem. (1838) III. 303 Those vicious habits in which there is no love to sin. 1877 Gladstone Glean. I. 148 The love of freedom itself is hardly stronger in England than the love of aristocracy. 1887 Fowler Princ. Mor. ii. i. 11 Among these primary desires should be specified the love of ease and the love of occupation. 1888 C. Patmore in B. Champneys Mem. (1900) II. iv. 43 When I was about fifteen my love for poetry began to get the better of my love for science. |
4. a. That feeling of attachment which is based upon difference of sex; the affection which subsists between lover and sweetheart and is the normal basis of marriage.
for love (
† in love): by reason of love (often placed in opposition to pecuniary considerations); also in weakened sense;
love at first sight: the action or state of falling in love with someone whom one has never previously seen;
love's young dream: the relationship of young lovers; the object of someone's love, a man regarded as the perfect lover.
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. xxix. 20 Iacob him hirsumode þa seofan ᵹear for Rachele and hit þuhte him feawa daᵹa for þære lufe, þe he to hire hæfde. c 1230 Hali Meid. 47 For to drahen his luue toward hire. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 508 Now art þow yn þe snare That whilom Iapedest at loues peyne. Ibid. ii. 667 This was a sodeyn love, how mighte it be That she so lightly lovede Troilus Right for the firste sighte; ye, pardee? a 1400–50 Alexander 226 Þe lede lawid in hire lofe as leme dose of gledis. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xlvi. 4, I hard a merle with mirry notis sing A sang of lufe. 1540 R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592) N ij, They that mary for love, shall lead their life in sorrow. a 1593 Marlowe Hero & Leander (1598) i. 175 Where both deliberat, the loue is slight, Who euer lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight? 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 750 Haile wedded Love, mysterious Law, true sourse Of human ofspring. 1776 Johnson in Boswell 28 Mar., It is commonly a weak man who marries for love. 1822 Hazlitt Table-Talk II. xvi. 354, I do not think that what is called Love at first sight is so great an absurdity as it is sometimes imagined to be. a 1834 Moore Irish Mel., Love's Yng. Dream i, But there's nothing half so sweet in life As love's young dream. 1839 [see beat v.1 10]. a 1849 Poe Annabel Lee 9 We loved with a love that was more than love—I and my Annabel Lee. 1868 W. Collins Moonstone I. vii. 91 You have heard of beautiful young ladies falling in love at first sight, and have thought it natural enough. 1898 J. K. Jerome Second Thoughts 155 The stout lady, now regarded as a would-be blighter of love's young dream, was hustled into the back seat. 1903 Kipling Traffics & Discov. (1904) 132 ‘Do you want a tow to Brixham?’.. ‘What for?’.. ‘For love; for nothing.’ 1920 Galsworthy Skin Game i. 33, I don't mean any tosh about love's young dream; but I do like being friends. 1937 D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon xv. 307 There now!.. If there ain't love's young dream a-comin' up the path. 1952 Scrutiny XVIII. 273 We know that what we have here is no drama of romantic love-at-first-sight. 1961 C. McCullers Clock without Hands iv. 89 In early youth, love at first sight, that epitome of passion, turns you into a zombie. 1966 L. Southworth Felon in Disguise viii. 121 It calls for a sweetheart act, a proper ‘Love's Young Dream’ routine. 1975 D. Bagley Snow Tiger xvi. 138 Don't you believe in love at first sight? |
b. As a motive in imaginative literature.
| 1779–81 Johnson L.P., Addison The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love..Yet the love is so intimately mingled with the whole action, that [etc.]. 1859 Macaulay Biogr., W. Pitt (2nd par.), This piece..is in some respects highly curious. There is no love. The whole plot is political. |
c. An instance of being in love. Also
collect. pl., amatory relations, love-affairs.
| 1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xxiii. (Arb.) 276 Nothing is so vnpleasant to a man, as to be encountred in his chiefe affection, and specially in his loues. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 3 Like a young Squire, in loves and lusty-hed His wanton daies that ever loosely led. 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 41 Oth. Thinke on thy sinnes. Des. They are Loues I beare to you. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 490 All the Rapes of Gods, and ev'ry Love, From ancient Chaos down to youthful Jove. 1738 Swift Pol. Conversat. 103, I suppose, the Colonel was cross'd in his first Love. 1844 Disraeli Coningsby viii. ii, The sweet pathos of their mutual loves. 1849 James Woodman ii, The loves of Mars and Venus. |
d. babe of love:
= love-child.
| 1728–42 Pope Dunc. ii. 158 Two babes of love close clinging to her waist. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. (1810) 70 Recorded next a Babe of love I trace! Of many loves, the Mother's fresh disgrace. |
5. a. (With capital.) The personification of sexual affection;
usu. masculine, and more or less identified with the Eros, Amor, or Cupid of classic mythology; formerly sometimes feminine, and capable of being identified with Venus. (See also 8 a.)
| 13.. in Wright Lyric P. xvi. 53 To love y putte pleyntes mo. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus i. 353 For loue bygan his fetheres so to lyme. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love ii. xii. 102 Weil it is sayd in play ‘luf gos before & ledis þe dawns’. 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. i. 79 b, Notwithstanding dame Love is so favourable unto mee. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 380 Fore runne faire Loue, strewing her way with flowers. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 763 Here Love his golden shafts imploies, here lights His constant Lamp, and waves his purple wings. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. iii. ii, In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed; In war, he mounts the warrior's steed. 1868 E. FitzGerald tr. Omar cviii. (1899) 103 Ah Love! could you and I with Fate conspire. |
b. with
pl. A Cupid; one of the multitude of nameless gods of love imagined by mythologists; a figure or representation of the god of love.
| 1594 Spenser Amoretti xvi, Legions of loves with little wings did fly. 1663 Cowley Acme & Septimius, All around The little Loves, that waited by, Bow'd, and bless'd the Augury. 1731 Swift Strephon & Chloe Wks. 1755 IV. i. 150 The smiling Cyprian goddess brings Her infant loves with purple wings. ? 1793 Coleridge Autumn. Evening 49–50 A thousand Loves around her forehead fly; A thousand Loves sit melting in her eye. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 63 Where'er her step in beauty moves, Around her fly a thousand loves. |
6. The animal instinct between the sexes, and its gratification.
| c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvii. (Vincencius) 13 Fals erroure, & lufe vnclene, & warldis dout als. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 185 A ȝongelynge..þat hadde obleged hym self to the devel for þe love of a wenche. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) vi. 27 A leddy als, for luf, to tak Ane propir page, hir tyme to pass. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iv. 28 Hir licherous luife, quhilk kindlit ouer hait. 1611 Bible Prov. vii. 18 Come, let vs take our fill of loue vntill the morning. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 102 Six Seasons use; but then release the Cow, Unfit for Love, and for the lab'ring Plough. |
7. Phrases (chiefly with prepositions).
a. for the love of: for the sake of, on account of.
† Also
for my (our, etc.) love = for my (our, etc.) sake.
for the love of Mike: for goodness' sake! (a
colloq. exclamation of exasperation or surprise, with no notion of the literal sense;
prob. f. Mike n.4).
Now only where some notion of the literal sense is implied (chiefly in adjurations); in early use often merely idiomatic,
= L.
causa,
gratia. In
OE. the
n. was often
pl.| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxii. §2 Ic wille [þe oðewan] for⁓lustlice for þinum lufum [L. tui causa libenter]. 971 Blickl. Hom. 23 Eal þis he þrowode for ure lufan. c 1200 Vices & Virtues (1888) 7 Alle ðe ðis isieð..i bidde and warni, for ðe luue of gode..þat ȝie hatien..ðes awerȝhede senne. a 1300 Cursor M. 14683 Forþ in dedes gode... We wil noght stan þe, parfai! But..for þe luue o þi missau. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxix. (Placidas) 163 Sa hyme, for þe luf of me, þat in my nam he baptis þe. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xiii. xvi, We shalle destroye alle the knyghtes of kyng Arthurs..for the loue of syr Galahad. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V 62 Required the Englishe lordes for the love of God that the truce might continue. 1587 Ianes in Hakluyt Voy. (1600) III. 112 The Sauages came to the Island..and tore the two vpper strakes, and carried them away onely for the loue of the yron in the boords. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 850 Impose some seruice on me for thy loue. 1601 ― Twel. N. ii. iii. 92 For the loue o God, peace. 1710 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 8 Dec., I begged Mr. Harley, for the love of God, to take some care about it. 1859 Tennyson Vivien 410 A Table Round, That was to be, for love of God and man And noble deeds, the flower of all the world. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 763 O move over your big carcass out of that for the love of Mike listen to him. 1925 T. Dreiser Amer. Trag. (1926) I. i. ix. 57 For de love o' Mike, will you listen to dat, now. 1934 J. Brophy Waterfront i. 14 For the love of mike..shut those blasted windows. 1935 W. D. Hubbard Thousandth Frog i. 7 Dick could not repress an exclamation of astonishment. ‘For the love of Mike. Look at them.’ 1941 Penguin New Writing VIII. 91 Well, for the luvva Mike! 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 3 Oct. 11 Tired? Well for the love of mike! What about me? 1957 A. MacNab Bulls of Iberia xv. 181 For the love of Mike, let's hope he's brave. |
† b. for or of all (the) loves,
upon all loves,
of all love: a phrase of strong adjuration or entreaty. Similarly,
for love's sake.
Obs.| c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 1587 Sir, for alle loues, Lete me thy prisoneres seen. a 1425 Cursor M. 20380 (Trin.) Whi wepestou what is þe For alle loues [earlier texts, for felaured, for felauschip,] telle now me. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Amabo..Of felowshippe: of all loues: I pray the: as euer thou wilte doe me good turne. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. ii. 153 Speake of all loues; I sound almost with feare. 1618 Ussher Lett. (1686) 64, I do intreat you of all Love, to look over the first Edition. 1620 Middleton Chaste Maid iii. i. 31 O sweet Father, for Loues sake pittie me. 1624 Bp. R. Montagu Immed. Addr. 185 She..intreateth him that was worshipped vpon the Altar, of all loves, mercies, and works of wonder, to restore her vnto her health. c 1646 in 2nd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 87/1 [10l.] which I desire you of all love to pay upon sight of this my letter. 1655 J. S. Phillis of Scyros iii. iv. 63 For loves sake, doe not press me to relate So long a story now. 1829 Whewell in Life (1881) 133 Beg her of all love to establish herself in a more collegiate part of Cambridge. |
c. for love or money: at any price, by any means. (Used in negative contexts.)
| [971 Blickl. Hom. 43 Ne for feo, ne for nanes mannes lufon. 13.. Coer de L. 1476 Neythyr for love, neyther for eye. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. i. 101 And neuer leue hem for loue ne for lacchyng of syluer.] 1590 C. S. Right Relig. 18 Then should not men eyther for loue or money haue pardons. 1609 Dekker Guls Horne-bk. vi. 30 If you can (either for loue or money) prouide your selfe a lodging by the water side. 1712 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 7 Aug., No more ghosts now for love or money. 1837 Sir F. Palgrave Merch. & Friar i. (1844) 18 Any person who, for love or money, might be induced to take the letter in his charge. 1869 March Gram. Anglo-Saxon Pref. iv, He let me..use..Anglo-Saxon texts not elsewhere to be had for love or money. |
d. in love (with): enamoured (of), imbued with love (for);
transf. very fond (of) or much addicted (to).
[
Cf. F. ‘
Estre en amour, said of birds that bill, tread, or breed’ (
Cotgr.).]
| 1508 Dunbar Tua mariit wemen 191 He is for ladyis in luf a right lusty schadow. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 5 He would talke..of the stories of the Scripture, so sweetely..as I was woonderfully in loue with him. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 140 A woman cannot possibly doe any thing y{supt} may make her husband more in love with her, then to play the good huswife. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. i. 87, I was in loue with my bed. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 267 Quoth she, Y' have almost made m' in Love With that which did my pity move. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. xvii. §24 He that believes, without having any reason for believing, may be in love with his own fancies. 1727 Gay Begg. Op. i. x. (1729) 14 What, is the fool in love in earnest then? 1828 Macaulay Ess., Hallam's Const. Hist., Its conduct, we are told, made the excellent Falkland in love with the very name of Parliament. 1881 L. B. Walford Dick Netherby xvii. 213 He was not himself in love. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropsh. Lad xviii, Oh, when I was in love with you, Then I was clean and brave. |
e. out of love (with): the opposite of
in love (
with); disgusted (with).
| 1581 G. Pettie tr. Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 10 Hee seemeth either too farre in loue with himselfe, or to farre out of loue with others. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 210, I should haue scratch'd out your vnseeing eyes, To make my Master out of loue with thee. 1603 ― Meas. for M. iii. i. 174, I am so out of loue with life. 1722 De Foe Relig. Courtsh. i. i. (1840) 4 What's the matter, that you are so out of love with the world all on a sudden? 1754 Richardson Grandison III. xi. 83 Lord W.'s animosity to my father made him out of love with his name. |
f. to fall († be taken or caught) in love: to become enamoured;
transf. to become very fond of, dote upon. Const.
with.
† Also,
to fall, be brought into love's dance.
Cf. F.
tomber en amour (15th c. in Littré).
| 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. xlv, So ferre I-fallyng Into lufis dance. 1530–1866 [see fall v. 38 b]. c 1530 Hickscorner (Manly) 204 Than in-to loves daunce we were brought. 1568 Grafton Chron. I. 37 Locryne fell in great phancy and love with a faire Damosell. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 345 Of which water who so drinketh, shall bee caught in Love. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. vi. heading, He sees her face; doth fall in love, And soone from her depart. 1606 W. W[oodcocke] Hist. Ivstine xliii. 134 With the pleasantnesse of which, they were so taken in loue, that [etc.]. 1887 Rider Haggard Jess iv, John Niel was no chicken, nor very likely to fall in love with the first pretty face he met. |
g. to make love: to pay amorous attention; now more usually, to copulate. [After F.
faire l'amour or
It. far l'amore.] Const.
to.
| 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 290 A Phrase now there is which belongeth to your Shoppe boorde, that is, to make loue. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. i. i. 107 Demetrius..Made loue to Nedars daughter. 1602 ― Ham. v. ii. 57 Why, man, they did make loue to this imployment. 1605 ― Macb. iii. i. 124 Thence it is That I to your assistance doe make loue. 1605 ― Lear v. iii. 88 If you will marry, make your loues to me. 1663 Cowley Hymn to Light ii, Thou golden Shower of a true Jove! Who does in thee descend, and Heav'n to Earth make love! 1712 Addison Spect. No. 517 ¶2 The Widow Lady whom he had made love to. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1775) I. 31 (Remise Door) You have been making love to me all this while. a 1845 Hood Poems (1846) I. 213 Oh there's nothing in life like making love. 1860 Sat. Rev. IX. 306 How often..do we make love to the charms of cousins and avuncular expectations. 1950 M. Peake Gormenghast xxix. 173 One of the Carvers made love to her and she had a baby. 1966 Auden About House 15 Stocktaking, horseplay, worship, making love. 1967 B. Wright tr. Queneau's Between Blue & Blue xiv. 151 When you make love on a bunk,..the man has to bump his head. 1971 Daily Tel. 15 Jan. 17/1 Couples who make love frequently are more likely to have sons than those who do so less often. |
† h. in the love of: beloved by.
Obs. rare.
| 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 417 He also departed this world, in the loue of all good men. |
8. In various proverbs and proverbial phrases.
a. Proverbs.
| c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. iii. xvii. in Anglia IX. 357 The prouerbe sayis ‘als gude luif cummis as gais’. 1474 Caxton Chesse iii. iii, Herof men say a comyn proverbe in englond, that loue lasteth as longe as the money endurith. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. vi. 36 Loue is blinde. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Amour, Loue, and the Cough cannot be hidden. a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1664) 35 Love needs no teaching. |
b. labour of love: work undertaken either from fondness for the work itself, or from desire to benefit persons whom one loves.
[An allusion to 1
Thess. i. 3, ‘Your worke of faith and labour of loue’, and
Heb. vi. 10.]
| 1673 Lady's Call. ii. iii. §12 Women..founded Hospitals, and yet with a labor of love, as the Apostle styles it, Heb. vi. 10, disdain'd not somtimes to serve in them. 1853 Kingsley Hypatia ix, The humble stock phrases in which they talked of their labours of love. 1878 Black Goldsmith xiv. 131 During this labour of love [the composition of the Deserted Village]. |
c. love in a cottage: a euphemistic expression for marriage with insufficient means.
| 1812 M. Edgeworth Absentee iv, Lady Clonbrony had not..the slightest notion how anybody..could prefer, to a good house..and a proper establishment, what is called love in a cottage. [1820 Keats Lamia ii. i, Love in a hut, with water and a crust, Is—Love, forgive us!—cinders, ashes, dust.] 1894 H. H. Gardener Unoff. Patriot 239 Here's more love in a cottage business for you. |
d. there's no love lost between them: an ambiguous phrase, which has been employed with two contrary implications.
† (
a) Their affection is mutual.
Obs.| c 1640 R. Davenport Surv. Sci. Wks. (Bullen 1890) 327 Oh my sweete! Sure there is no loue lost when yo{supu} two meete. 16.. Children in Wood ii. in Percy Reliq. (1765) III. 172 No love between these two was lost, Each was to other kinde. 1696 M. Henry Life P. Henry (1699) 8 Dr. Busby..took a particular Kindness to him,..and there was no Love lost betwixt them. 1706 Motteux Quix. ii. xxxiii. (1749) III. 266, I love him well, and there's no love lost between us. 1749 Smollett Gil Blas (1797) III. 233, I have a friendship for you..And I can assure thee, child (said I), there is no love lost [Fr. que tu n'aimes pas un ingrat]. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv, As for murmurs, mother, we grumble a little now and then, to be sure. But there's no love lost between us. 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. New Year's Coming of Age, There was no love lost for that matter. 1824 N. Drake Noontide Leisure II. 54 Give me your hand..and let me tell you..there is no love lost between us. |
(
b) Now always: They have no love for each other.
| ? 1622 J. Taylor (Water-P.) Trav. Twelve-pence Wks. (1630) i. 71 They loue me not, which makes 'em quickly spend me. But there's no great loue lost 'twixt them and mee, We keepe asunder and so best agree. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1768) III. 134 He must needs say, there was no love lost between some of my family and him; but he had not deserved of them what they had of him. 1858 Thackeray Virgin. xvii. I. 134 There was not a great deal of love lost between Will and his half-sister. 1866 Howells Venet. Life 121 Americans do not like these people and I believe there is no love lost on the other side. 1889 T. A. Trollope What I remember III. 91 Between Italian and French radicals there is really no love lost. |
9. a. A beloved person:
esp. a sweetheart; chiefly applied to a female person, but sometimes to a male. (Often used as a term of endearing address.)
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 1531 He is mi lif & mi luue. c 1369 Chaucer Bk. Duchesse 91 And wher my lord, my love, be deed? 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iv. 49 Rose Reginoldes loue [text A lemmon]. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 672 Ful loude he song ‘Com hider, love, to me’. 14.. Sir Beues 2019 (MS. M.) Beuys, loue dere, Ryde nat fro me in no manere! 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. xxxv. 269 He is my fyrst loue and he shal be the laste. a 1592 Marlowe Pass. Sheph. to his Love, Liue with me and be my Loue. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 277 Whether Bassanio had not once a Loue. 1600 Dr. Dodypoll iii. v. in Bullen Old Plays III. 135 Why, love? doubt you that? Ibid. 136 Thou art growne passing strange, my love. c 1606 Wither Love Sonn. iii. in Descr. Love (1638) C 4 In Summer-time to Medley My love and I would goe. 1767 Sir W. Jones Seven Fountains Poems (1777) 37 Told to their smiling loves their amorous tales. 1818 Scott ‘Old Song’ in Br. Lamm. xxix, It is best to be off wi' the old love, Before you be on wi' the new. a 1834 Moore Yng. May Moon 1 The young May moon is beaming, love. 1860 C. Patmore Faithful for ever iii. ii. 180 And there's another thing, my Love, I wish you'd show you don't approve. 1895 A. W. Pinero Second Mrs. Tanqueray iii. 104 Paula love, I fancied you and Aubrey were a little more friendly. 1900 Barrie Tommy & Grizel xxv. 303 There are poor dogs of men..who open their letters from their loves, knowing exactly what will be in them. 1966 New Yorker 29 Jan. 22/3 ‘Sit over here, love,’ he said as another actress entered. 1967 Listener 5 Oct. 429/3 Lovely, loves, I loved it. And Alison here was hysterical, weren't you, Alison? 1975 J. Symons Three Pipe Problem iii. 25 But Sher. love, it was only a read-through. You don't expect me to act. |
b. transf. of animals.
| 1697 Dryden æneid viii. 288 One Heifar who had heard her Love complain, Roar'd from the Cave. 1792 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Wks. III. 259 Her feather'd Partner..Now for his loves pursues his airy way, And now with food returns. |
† c. In reference to illicit relations: A paramour; said of both men and women.
Obs.| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xiv. 154 And whan thai wil have ony companye of man..than thei have Loves, that usen hem. 1462 Paston Lett. II. 98 He bydeth but a tyme that he myght gete a summe of money to geders..and to gone ther with a love of his sojornyng as yette in Hokehold. 1588 M. Kyffin tr. Terence's Andria i. iii. C iv b, Whether she be wife to Pamphilus, or but his loue, I knowe not. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. v. 79 To serch his house for his wiues Loue. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 768 They haue one wife, many loues. |
d. gen. The object of love; the beloved (of..).
| 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 190 The lover and the love of human-kind. 1754 Chatham Lett. Nephew iv. 28 Make yourself the love and admiration of the world. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. clxx, In the dust The fair-hair'd Daughter of the Isles is laid, The love of millions! |
e. A charming or delightful person or thing; a ‘duck’.
colloq.| 1814 Jane Austen Lett. (1884) II. 241 The garden is quite a love. 1831 Lady Granville Let. 28 Feb., A pretty, tiny daughter, whom my girls think a love. 1841 S. Warren Ten Thous. a-year II. 75 He's a love of a man, pa, isn't he? 1844 L. Hunt Blue-Stocking Revels i. 26 Poems 103 Such doves of Petitions, and loves of sweet Pray'rs. 1864 W. H. Ainsworth John Law Prol. vi. (1881) 35 Nankin has the tiniest teacups you ever beheld—perfect loves! 1889 ‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xxiv, What a love of a chain! |
f. love in disguise: (see
quots.).
| 1877 E. S. Dallas Kettner's Bk. of Table 282 Love in disguise is a calf's heart stuffed, then surrounded with forcemeat, next rolled in vermicelli, lastly deposited in a baking dish..and sent to the oven. 1958 W. Bickel tr. Hering's Dict. Cookery 451 Love in disguise, calf's heart, soaked in water, larded, boiled until tender, dried, coated with veal forcemeat, rolled in crushed raw noodles, roasted in butter in oven and basted frequently. |
10. a. for love: without stakes, for nothing; applied to the practice of playing a competitive game for the pleasure of playing.
| 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 1007 For these at Beste and L'Ombre [you] wooe, And play for love and money too. 1813 Sporting Mag. XLI. 296 A match of..single-stick, was played..for what is technically termed Love and a Belly-full. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. New Year's Eve, I play over again for love, as the gamesters phrase it, games for which I once paid so dear. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxxii, Mrs. Todgers..proposed that..they should play for ‘love’. |
b. In various competitive games of skill,
e.g. whist, football, tennis, racquets: No score, nothing; meaning that the party said ‘to be
love’ has scored no points in the game then in progress.
love all: no score on either side.
| 1742 Hoyle Whist i. 13 If your Adversary is 6 or 7 Love, and you are to lead. 1780 Gentl. Mag. L. 322/2 We are not told how, or by what means Six love comes to mean Six to nothing. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVIII. 380/2 As the games are won, so they are marked and called; as one game love, two games to one, &c. 1885 Pall Mall G. 2 Mar. 10/2 In the Rugby game Northampton beat Coventry by a try to love. 1898 Encycl. Sport II. 242/1 The marker's..duty is to call the game..from the start at ‘love all’... ‘Love’, in the game of rackets, as in other games, signifies nothing. |
c. Applied
attrib. to a game or set of games in which there is nothing scored on one side.
| 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. (1847) 57 Can't make a hazard..and has lost two love games. 1878 J. Marshall Ann. Tennis 158 Love-set, a set in which one player wins six consecutive games; or, in case of an advantage-set, seven consecutive games. 1884 Pall Mall G. 25 Apr. 3/2 In the two first days' play the whole of the heats were love victories. |
† 11. A game of chance in which one player holds up a certain number of fingers, and the other, without seeing, guesses their number.
= mora.
Obs.| 1585 Higgins Junius' Nomenclator 297/2 Micare digitis,..a play vsed in Italy,..it is called there..the play of loue. 1611 Cotgr., Mourre, the play of loue. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xxii. 94 There he played..At love [orig. a la mourre]. 1725 Bailey Erasm. Colloq. (1733) 205 The Countrymens Play of holding up our Fingers (dimicatione digitorum, i.e. the Play of Love). |
12. A variant of the game of
euchre.
| 1886 Euchre 41 Slam, Love, or Skunk. |
† 13. ‘A kind of thin silk stuff’ (J.), formerly used when in mourning; a border of this.
Orig. love-hood.
Obs. (
Cf. love-ribbon in 16 below.)
| 1663 Boyle Exper. Colours iii. ix. (1664) 198 Such a kind of Transparency, as that of a Sive, a piece of Cyprus, or a Love-Hood. 1747 Mrs. Delany Let. to Mrs. Dewes in Life & Corr. 478, I shall make no more dark things; after three months black silk is worn with love hood. 1751 Lond. Daily Advertiser 21 Dec. (N. & Q. 1st Ser. X. 206) A black velvet cloak with a love coarsely run round it. 1825–9 Mrs. Sherwood Lady of Manor II. x. 63 He was dressed in white, having a sash of black love. |
14. a. An old name for Traveller's Joy or Virgin's Bower,
Clematis Vitalba; also
love-bind (see 16 b).
b. (See
quot. 1874.)
| 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 384 In English of most country people where it groweth [called] Honestie; and the Gentlewomen call it Love, but Gerard coyned that name of the Travelours joy. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. i. xv. 95 Bees gather of these flowers following..In July..Love. 1874 Treas. Bot. Suppl., Love, a name used in Tasmania for Comesperma volubile. |
15. Obvious combinations.
a. simple attributive, as
love-adept,
love-adventure,
love-allegory,
love-ballad,
love-bed,
love-bite,
love-bond,
love-charm,
love-dance,
love-desire,
love-discourse,
love-ditty,
love-dream,
love-drug,
love-duel,
love-duet,
love-elegy,
love-eye,
love-fit,
love-flight,
love-game,
love-gift,
love-glance,
love-god,
love intrigue,
love-laughing,
love-light,
love-look,
love-lore,
love-lyric,
love-madness,
love-magic,
love-marriage,
love-melancholy,
love-mourning,
love-note,
love-ode,
love-passion,
love-plot,
love-poem,
love-poet,
love-poetry,
† love-prate,
love-quarrel,
love-rime,
love-secret,
love-service,
love-shaft,
love-sonnet,
love-speech,
† love-spring,
love-talk,
love-talking,
love-tear,
love-theme,
love-thought,
love-toy,
love-trick,
love-verse,
love-word, etc.
| 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. i. 738 Dreaming like a *love-adept. |
| 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) I. 271 In relation to common amours and *love-adventures. |
| 1933 R. Tuve Seasons & Months iv. 189 All this is to be found in the *love-allegory of the Golden Targe. |
| 1565 Cooper Thesaurus s.v. Amor, Componere amores..To make *loue balades. |
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 72 He is not lulling on a lewd *Loue-Bed. 1934 Dylan Thomas 18 Poems 19 Invisible, your clocking tides Break on the lovebeds of the weeds. a 1963 S. Plath Crossing Water (1971) 33 Musky as a lovebed the morning after. |
| 1749 J. Cleland Mem. Woman Pleasure II. 63 Then the turtle-billing kisses, and the poignant painless *love-bites. 1903 H. Ellis Stud. Psychol. Sex III. 71 We may find references to love-bites in the literature of ancient as well as of modern times... In the Indian Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana a chapter is devoted to this subject. 1972 Daily Tel. 29 Jan. 3/1 Once I saw her sitting in class with a love bite on her neck. |
| 1951 L. MacNeice tr. Goethe's Faust ii. v. 295 Rapture which yearns ever, *Love-bond which burns ever. |
| 1889 Cent. Dict., *Love-charm. 1935 Amer. Speech X. 119/2 Certain generic epithets..have become so conventionalized that they too tell their tales... Love thief, love nest, love lure, love charm, love potion. 1948 B. G. M. Sundkler Bantu Prophets S. Afr. vi. 222 Various Native ‘Chemist’ shops sell..love-charms. |
| 1911 J. A. Thomson Biol. Seasons II. 233 The long larval period of two or three years in the water, and the short aerial *love-dance lasting for an evening or two. 1934 Discovery Nov. 309/1 For a few weeks they [sc. the termites] revive their ancestral free-living life in a mad love⁓dance. |
| 1628 Ford Lover's Mel. iv. iii, The Incense of my *loue-desires are flam'd Vpon an Altar of more constant proofe. |
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iv. 126, I know you ioy not in a *Loue-discourse. |
| a 1711 Ken Christophil Poet. Wks. 1721 I. 476, I..Who for Two thousand Years, or rather more, Have sung the like *Love-ditties o're and o're. 1808 Scott Marm. i. vii, And frame love-ditties passing rare. |
| a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 449/20 Þou make in me þi *loue-dreem. |
| 1959 Chambers's Dict. Suppl., *Love-drug, dagga. 1969 Rolling Stone 17 May 3/4 The new ‘love drug’, MDA (3, 4-methylenedioxy-phenyl-iso-propylamine). |
| 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad 58 This was not a *love duel, but a ‘satisfaction’ affair. 1932 R. Campbell Taurine Provence ii. 44 The great ‘Lou Pouvenco’..bore a small fortune between his horns, until he was killed in a love-duel by a younger rival. 1946 Essays & Stud. XXXI. 105 Anyone who takes the trouble to get the score of Verdi's Otello, and compare the *love-duet at the end of the first act, in particular Otello's solo passages, with the last but two and last but one paragraphs of the Anna Livia episode, will discover some very interesting similarities in phrasing. 1975 Times 12 Feb. 23/6 The dance of Discord and War..has to be reconciled by the love duet. |
| 1616–61 B. Holyday Persius 295 Weak *Love-elegies, such as Rome's nobles speak. |
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 3128 Lokyng on lenght with a *loue ee. |
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 112 Or fro this hoat *looue fits I shal bee shortlye retrayted. 1679 J. Goodman Penitent Pardoned ii. i. (1713) 150 Taken with an agony of mind, or a kind of love-fit. 1821 Byron Sardan. iii. i. 401 Again the love-fit's on him. |
| 1908 E. J. Banfield Confessions of Beachcomber i. vii. 232 The *love flight of the green and gold butterfly. 1936 Brit. Birds XXIX. 307 The love-flights of many species depend on a subtle change in the character of the wing-beat, most marked perhaps in the waders. |
| 1925 F. Harris My Life & Loves I. 182, I waited a little while and then began the *love game. 1973 B. Freemantle Goodbye to Old Friend iv. 54 He wondered if Anne were playing some odd kind of love game. |
| 1645 Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845) 379 Christ is God's highest *love-gift. 1876 Browning Cenciaja 279 The simpleton must ostentatiously Display a ring, the Cardinal's love-gift. |
| 1821 Keats Lamia i. 102 The *love-glances of unlovely eyes. |
| c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cliv, The little *Loue-God lying once asleepe. 1887 Bowen Virg. æneid i. 662 She addresses the Love-god plumed for the flight. |
| 1684 Otway Atheist ii. i. Wks. 1728 I. 34 Your *Love-Intreagues are not so closely manag'd, but that [etc.]. |
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1777 With *luf-laȝyng [= laughing] a lyt. |
| 1833 Coleridge Song, ‘She is not Fair’ 10, I cease not to behold The *love-light in her eye. 1839 Bailey Festus (1852) 513 Her bright heart With lovelight glowed. |
| 1637 S. Rutherford Let. 10 June (1891) clxxv. 331 Any little communion with Him [sc. Christ], one of His *love-looks, should be my begun heaven. 1904 Windsor Mag. June 305/2 Do you think I don't know a love-look when I see it? |
| 1754 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) III. 64 That living academy of *love-lore, my Lady Vane. |
| 1856 National Rev. III. 372 The *love-lyric..is probably the most intense expression of primitive passion. 1962 L. Durrell Spirit of Place (1969) 19 He had just published a sequence of love-lyrics called Kingcup. 1974 P. Dickinson Poison Oracle ii. 44 You get a basic story, but inside it you get dramatic sections and love lyrics. |
| 1884 Harper's Mag. Dec. 134/1 *Love-madness is nothing new. |
| 1949 M. Mead Male & Female iii. 56 How the..human sacrifice or *love-magic fitted into the whole. |
| 1850 Thackeray Pendennis II. xxi. 209 Look at your *love-marriages... The love-match people are the most notorious of all for quarrelling afterwards. 1973 Archivum Linguisticum IV. 93 A love-marriage (as opposed to an arranged marriage). |
| 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii, *Love Melancholy. |
| a 1290 S. Eustace 111 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 213 Ssore i-bounden..wiþ *loue mourninge Of Crist þat alle þinge shop. |
| 1840 Mrs. Norton Dream etc. 205 The borrowed *love-notes of thy echoing lyre. |
| 1689 Prior Ep. Fleetwood Shephard 50 Pigs might squeak *love-odes, dogs bark satire. |
| 1583 T. Watson Poems To Rdr. (Arb.) 27 In respect of my trauaile in penning these *loue-passions. |
| 1670 Dryden 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada i. ii, I'll your *love-plot quickly countermine. |
| 1847 Tennyson Princess iv. 102 And this A mere *love-poem. |
| 1923 J. M. Murry Pencillings 224 *Love poets are seldom the singers of happiness in love. 1965 New Statesman 16 July 87/2 Donne..has a title to be our greatest love poet. |
| 1865 Reader 20 May 561/2 Claim passionate tenderness as especially feminine, and the inquiry is made whether all the best *love-poetry in existence..has not been written by men. 1872 Geo. Eliot Middlem. III. v. xlvii. 75 Verifying in his own experience that higher love-poetry which had charmed his fancy. 1971 Guardian 14 July 11/2 The best of his [sc. Attlee's] poems are political ballads... The others (not so good) run even to love poetry. |
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 206 You haue simply misus'd our sexe in your *loue-prate. |
| 1671 Milton Samson 1008 *Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end. |
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 183 Don Cupid, Regent of *Loue-rimes. |
| 1754 Richardson Grandison I. xxxvii. 265 And has he, can he have, so many *Love-secrets, and yet..not let them transpire to such a sister? 1923 R. Graves Feather Bed 25 This meek ex⁓novice rifled Of her love-secrets? |
| 1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer iii. (1577) N v b, With what sober mode they shewe fauor to who so is in their *loue seruice. |
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 159 Cupid..loos'd his *loue-shaft smartly from his bow. |
| 1870 D. G. Rossetti Let. 26 Feb. (1965) II. 804 The *love-sonnets are the preponderant portion. 1958 Blunden War Poets ii. 15 In the pre-war poems of Brooke something like a premonition can be seen recurring. A love-sonnet dated 1909 powerfully includes it. |
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 204 Mid tollinde wordes, oðer mid *luue speche. |
| a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 70 Jhesu..Thy *love sprenges tacheth me. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. ii. 3 Shall Antipholus Euen in the spring of Loue, thy Loue-springs rot? |
| 1599 ― Hen. V, v. ii. 101 Tearmes, Such as will..pleade his *Loue-suit to her gentle heart. |
| 1862 G. Meredith Mod. Love xxxiii. 65 My wife, read this! Strange *love talk, is it not? 1968 ‘N. Blake’ Private Wound v. 69 She used none of the experienced woman's verbal tricks to arouse me, none of the shameless, titillating, love-talk. |
| 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 927, I hope þat may hym here Schal lerne of *luf-talkyng. |
| a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. 70 Of *love teres he weop a flod. |
| 1938 R. Graves Coll. Poems p. xxi, With the *love-theme went the old fear-theme, sharpened rather than blunted by the experiences of peace. 1957 Manvell & Huntley Techniques Film Music i. 21 Examples of original music by Griffith and Briel included a prominent love-theme (for the Little Colonel and Elsie Stoneman). |
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. i. 41 *Loue-thoughts lye rich, when canopy'd with bowres. |
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia iii. (1598) 390 These are your *loue-toyes, which still are spent In lawlesse games. 1647 Trapp Comm. Col. iv. 16 Other good books must be read..yet not idle pamphlets, and love-toies. |
| 1590 T. Watson Eglogue Death Sir F. Walsingham 266 Let them suppose sweete Musicke out of vse, and wanton *louetricks to be foolish toies. 1611 Cotgr., Amourettes, loue-trickes. 1826 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) II. 90/2 All the various love-tricks of attempting to appear indifferent. |
| a 1708 Walsh in Dryden Misc. (1727) IV. 335 Petrarch..being by much the most famous of all the Moderns who have written *Love-Verses. |
| a 1240 Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 201 Hwi ne con ich wowen þe wið swete *luue wordes. a 1651 Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 352 Manie love words she useth to Bothwell in this letter. 1883 Longm. Mag. Aug. 368 Why did her love-words echo in his ear? |
b. objective and objective genitive, as
love-breathing,
love-darting,
love-devouring,
love-inspiring,
love-lacking, etc.;
love-† frayner (
= asker),
love-monger, etc.
| 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 593 In rapture warbled from *love-breathing lips. |
| 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. iv. Captains 849 Her sweet, *love-darting Eyn. 1634 Milton Comus 753 Love-darting eyes. |
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. vi. 7 Then *Loue-deuouring death do what he dare. |
| a 1400 Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867) 59 Þat he ne do no trispase agayne þe rewle..of þis relegion, and of þase *lufe frayners. |
| 1797 M. Robinson Walsingham I. 277 The *love-inspiring dames of luxurious Italy. |
| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 403/1 His false *loue-lacking charitie. 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. cxxv, Loue-lacking vestals, and selfe-louing Nuns. |
| 1588 ― L.L.L. ii. i. 253 Thou art an old *Loue-monger. |
| 1882 Spectator 9 Dec. 1579 His [Sterne's] *lovemongering was altogether contemptible. |
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. ii. 5 Spred thy close Curtaine *Loue-performing night. |
| 1742 Pope Dunc. iv. 306 *Love-whisp'ring woods, and lute-resounding waves. |
c. adverbial (chiefly instrumental) and parasynthetic, as
love-born,
love-crossed,
love-deep,
love-dittied,
love-enthralled,
love-fond,
love-illumined,
love-inspired,
love-instructed,
love-laboured,
love-laden,
love-learned,
love-lighted,
love-lit,
love-mad,
love-open,
love-pensive,
love-proof,
love-quick,
† love-shaked,
love-smitten,
love-spent,
love-starved,
love-stricken,
love-touched,
love wounded adjs.| 1725 Pope Odyss. x. 398 *Love-born confidence. |
| 1834 Lytton Pompeii iii. ii, Thy Master was *love-crossed. 1885–94 R. Bridges Eros & Psyche Oct. iv, Many an old love-crost And doleful ditty would she gently sing. |
| 1832 Tennyson Eleänore 76 The languors of thy *love-deep eyes. |
| 1725 Pope Odyss. i. 532 *Love-dittied airs, and dance, conclude the day. |
| 1665 R. Brathwait Comment Two Tales 23 We are now to..descend to our *love-enthralled Absolon. |
| 1823 Roscoe Sismondi's Lit. Eur. (1846) II. xxxvi. 458 The melancholy soul of a *love-fond poet. |
| 1781 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. i. (1791) 19 Guard from cold dews her *love-illumin'd form. |
| 1768 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Elegy Fleas Teneriffe ix, The *love-inspir'd Fandango warms no more. |
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. (1598) 90 Then did he slacke his *loue-enstructed pace. |
| 1667 Milton P.L. v. 41 The night-warbling Bird, that now awake Tunes sweetest his *love-labor'd song. |
| 1820 Shelley Skylark ix, Soothing her *love-laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love. |
| 1595 Spenser Epithal. 88 The birds *love-learned song. |
| 1785 T. Dwight Conquest of Canäan (1788) iii. 78 For earth too bright were these *love-lighted fires! 1904 Daily Chron. 9 Feb. 5/2 Peering through the pale miracle of spring at his violets,..his blear eyes love-lighted. |
| 1855 J. R. Lowell In-doors Out in Uncoll. Poems (1950) 107 No glimmering beacon's *love-lit rays Will homeward guide the wand'rer's feet. 1948 Blunden Shakespeare to Hardy (1964) 208 Here she is in her father's garden, flowering, love-lit, awaiting the slow old Nurse. |
| 1839 Hallam Hist. Lit. IV. iv. vi. §5. 259 *Love-mad and yet talking in gallant conceits. |
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. (1598) 91 His *loue-open eye..that eu'n did marke her troden grasse. |
| 1717 Fenton Poems 101 Wand'ring *Love-pensive near his Amber Stream. |
| 1810 Splendid Follies III. 121 The widow..placed herself opposite this *love-proof hero. |
| 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars ii. lxxv, [She] her *love-quicke eyes, which ready be, Fastens on one. |
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. ii. 385, I am he that is so *Loue-shak'd, I pray you tel me your remedie. |
| 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair lvii, This *love-smitten and middle-aged gentleman. |
| 1648 Herrick Hesper., To Willow-tree (1869) 112 The *love-spent youth, and love-sick maid. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 24 July 2/1 *Love-starved young Keats hath cast his gift of clay. 1955 New Yorker 25 June 59/1 The heroine is a love-starved American secretary. |
| 1805 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (1806) II. x. 247 Bless me, the youth is *love-stricken! |
| 1872 A. de Vere Leg. St. Patrick, Arraignm. St. P. 7 Like birds that cannot stay their songs *Love-touched in Spring. |
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. ii. 113 *Loue wounded Protheus. |
16. a. Special combs.:
love-affair, in early use
pl. the experiences connected with being in love; now
sing. (in somewhat disparaging use) an amatory episode in a person's life, an amour; also
fig.;
† love amour, sexual love as distinguished from friendship;
† love-badge, ? a badge indicating profession of amorous allegiance;
love beads, a necklace of coloured beads worn as a symbol of universal love;
love-begotten a., illegitimate;
† love-bend, the ‘fetters’ of love;
love-blink Sc., a look of love;
love-book, (
a) the book of ‘the Song of Solomon’; (
b) a book treating of love;
† love-boy, a catamite;
† love-brat = love-child;
† love-broker, one who acts as an agent between lovers; so
love-broking;
love-call, a call or note used as a means of amorous communication between the sexes;
† love-cause = love-affair;
love comic, a comic (sense B. 2) in which the principal ingredient of the stories is love;
love-cup,
† (
a) a philtre; (
b) a loving-cup;
love-curl, a lovelock,
esp. on the forehead;
love-dart, an organ found in certain snails (see
quot.), the
spiculum amoris;
† love-deed, an action proceeding from love;
† love-dose,
-draught, a philtre;
† love-dread, the fear that proceeds from love, ‘filial’ fear;
† love-drunk, intoxication with love;
† love-eie (
= awe)
= love-dread;
love-favour (see
favour n. 7);
† love-feat, an act of courtship;
love-hate, (
orig. a psychoanalytic) term used to describe ambivalent feelings of love and hate existing towards the same object;
freq. attrib.; so as
v.; also
love-hatred;
† love-hood (see sense 13);
love-interest, a theme or episode in a story, film, etc., of which the main element is the affection of lovers;
love-juice,
† (
a) a juice which dropped upon the eyes has the effect of a philtre; (
b) an aphrodisiac; (
c) a sexual secretion;
† love-lace, the snare of love;
† love-lad, a lover;
† love-lake = love-sport;
† love-lass, a sweetheart;
† love-late, amorous looks or demeanour;
† love-libel, a love-letter or message;
love-life, relations between the sexes as they affect a particular person;
† love-liking, sexual affection;
† love-line nonce-wd., a love-letter;
love-match, a marriage of which the motive is love, not worldly advantage or convenience;
love-money, coins broken in two and divided between lovers or friends as a token of remembrance;
love-nest, a secluded retreat for (
esp. illicit) lovers;
† love-nettled a., deeply in love;
love-object, the object on which love is centred;
† love-paper nonce-wd., a love-letter;
love-pass = love-passage;
love-passage, an incident of amatory experience;
love-pat, a smart tap given out of love (
cf. love-tick);
love-pennant, ? a pennant with which a departing ship is decorated;
love-philtre, often redundantly
= philtre;
love-play, wooing, caressing,
spec. foreplay; also
fig.;
love-potion, a philtre
= love-drink;
† love-powder, (
a) a powder administered as a philtre; (
b)
nonce-use, the explosive stuff of love;
love-ribbon, a narrow gauze ribbon with satin stripes (
cf. sense 13);
† love-ron,
-rune, a tale or song of love;
love-scene, a scene,
esp. in a story or play, consisting of an interview between lovers;
love-seal, a seal with a device appropriate to amatory correspondence;
love-seat, a special form of arm-chair (also, of sofa) designed for two occupants;
† love-soken (see
quot.);
love-spoon, a wooden spoon, sometimes with a double bowl, carved for presentation to one's intended wife;
love-sport, amorous play or dalliance;
love-story, a story in which the main theme is the affection existing between lovers;
love-tale = prec.;
love-tap, a tap or gentle blow to indicate love;
† love-thing, ? a pledge of love;
† love-tick = love-tap;
† love-tiding, a message of love;
love-tight a., so as to be proof against love;
† love-tooth, an inclination for love;
love-up [
cf. love v.
1 1 d]
slang, an act of caressing, hugging, etc.;
† love-wine, wine served out to a company in a loving-cup.
| 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. iii. i. 254, I'le..confer at large Of all that may concerne thy *Loue-affaires. 1862 National Rev. XIV. 220 They have suggested that some irregular love-affair was unprosperous. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset I. xxv. 217, I think you are aware that you have got a love-affair on hand. 1969 Times 25 Mar. 9/4 The crazy world of Erogenous Zones [sc. a play] is the result of 25-year-old Mike Stott's love affair with American strip cartoons. 1974 Times 4 Dec. 17 This century's love-affair with the motor-car. |
| c 1350 Ipomadon (Kölbing) 127 Nowghte she covthe of *love amowre. |
| 1656 Sir J. Mennis & J. Smith Musarum Deliciæ 35 Another ask't me..Whether I wore a *Love-bagge on my shoulder? |
| 1968 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 20 June 1/5 *Love beads draped on him by Pierre Trudeau, adorn former Prime Minister Pearson at Toronto political rally. 1969 R. Lowell Notebk. 1967–68 (1970) 217 Our love-beads Rattling together to show that we were young. 1973 ‘B. Mather’ Snowline xiii. 155 Weirdo fringed shirts, headbands, love beads..as unsavoury a bunch of love children as I have ever seen. |
| 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 24 May, That he had been a *love-begotten babe, brought up in the workhouse. 1784 Registers of River, Kent (MS.), Mary, daughter of Ann Allen—Love begotten, [baptized]. |
| c 1250 Hymn to Virgin 35 in Trin. Coll. Hom. App. 256 Ic êm in þine *loue bende. 13.. Guy Warw. (A.) 324 Leuer him wer walk & wende, & dye in trewe loue bende. |
| 1508 Dunbar Tua mariit wemen 228, I cast on him a crabbit E..And lettis it is a *luf-blenk. 1636 Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 155 My Bridegroom's love-blinks fatten my weary soul. |
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 102 Ase mi leofmon þet seið to me, iðe *luue boc, ‘osculetur me osculo oris sui’. 1587 F. Clement Petie Schole 36 Bookeloue I say, but I meane not louebookes, which..be the enemies of vertue. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. i. 19 For I will be thy beadesman, Valentine. Val. And on a loue-booke pray for my successe? 1936 C. S. Lewis Allegory of Love iv. 172 Hence those strange comings and goings in every medieval love-book. |
| a 1656 Ussher Ann. vi. (1658) 131 Pausanias, being discovered by Argilius, his *love-boy. |
| ? 16.. Old Chap-bk. (N.), Four *love brats will be laid to thee. |
| 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. ii. 39 There is no *loue-Broker in the world, can more preuaile in mans commendation with woman, then report of valour. |
| 1808 E. S. Barrett Miss-led General 165 What money Mr. Greentimber disbursed on account of the great man's *love-broking affairs. |
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. 198 In less than two minutes Harriet heard the *love-call sounded at Sally's gate. 1887 Athenæum 31 Dec. 901/3 He [Mr. Rowbotham] disagrees with Darwin in finding the origin of all instrumental music in the love-call. |
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 97 In all this time there was not anie man died in his owne person (videlicet) in a *loue cause. |
| 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 151/2 It recently shifted a large section of its enterprises from murder to *love comics. 1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 214 The market is contested by..love comics and fotoromance. |
| 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 128 Poysoning *louecuppes, and inchauntments, were in the tyme of S. John most frequented throughout the Romayne Empyre. 1849 Rock Ch. of Fathers IV. xi. 86 The love-cup was sent about. |
| 1850 H. Melville White Jacket II. xxxvii. 240 Many sailors, with naturally tendril locks, prided themselves upon what they call *love curls. 1926 T. E. Lawrence Seven Pillars (1935) lxxxvi. 479 In command was young Metaab, stripped to his skimp riding-drawers for hard work, with his black love-curls awry. |
| 1877 F. P. Pascoe Zool. Classif. 122 A curious organ is a pyriform muscular sac, containing one or two slender conical styles, which can be thrust out through the aperture of the sac; they are found in certain snails, and with them they pierce each other's skin. They are known as ‘*love-darts’. |
| 13.. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. liv. 62 And þis I made for Monkynde, Mi *loue-dedes to haue in mynde. |
| 1709 J. Johnson Clergym. Vade M. ii. 69 Pharmacy probably signifies here..the compounding of philtrums or *love-doses. |
| 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 85 Their *love-draughts, charmes, and druggs. 1841 Borrow Zincali I. ii. i. 228 The women..dealing in love draughts and diablerie. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 3/1 The love-draught which Tristram and Iseult drink together. |
| c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 316 *Love-drede is in men wiþouten siche servile drede. c 1440 Jacob's Well xxxviii. 243 For þe loue-dreed þat sche hadde to god. |
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 11 *Lovedrunke is the meschief Above alle othre the most chief. |
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 428 Liðe wordes..þerof kumeð þinge best—þet is *luue⁓eie. |
| 1597 Bp. Hall Sat. i. ii. B 3 b, Deck't with *love-fauors. |
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 123 And euery one his *Loue-feat will aduance Vnto his seuerall Mistresse. |
| 1925 J. Riviere et al. tr. Freud's Coll. Papers IV. 79 So the second antithesis, *love-hate, reproduces the polarity pleasure-pain, which is bound up with the former. 1937 H. Nicolson Diary 16 June (1966) 302 Goering..has the love-hate complex of the average German bourgeois for England. 1950 E. J. Simmons Dostoevsky xix. 315 Versilov's..love-hate relations with Katerina which conclude with his mad attempt to murder her. 1967 A. Wilson No Laughing Matter ii. 216 She love-hates him enough to be unable to leave him. 1972 Ld. Robens Ten Year Stint ii. 15 My personal relationship with the men and their leaders was schizophrenic—a sort of love-hate relationship. |
| 1951 H. Hatfield Thomas Mann iii. 36 The protagonists in Two Friends, a novella of the *love-hatred between a responsible burgher and a ne'er-do-well, afford a certain parallel to Thomas and Christian Buddenbrook. 1961 Times 18 Mar. 11/4 The love-hatred of Isolde for Tristan. |
| 1892 H. James Notebks. (1947) 129 There must be a ‘*love-interest’—which is one and the same with the other parts of the situation. 1938 R. G. Collingwood Princ. Art v. 84 The cinema, where it is said to be a principle accepted by almost every manager that no film can succeed without a love-interest. 1961 C. S. Lewis Exper. in Crit. iv. 38 The story of excitement or mystery usually has a ‘love interest’ tacked on to it. 1973 Time Out 2–8 Mar. 59/3 ‘Love-interest’ rears its inept head just as the medical satire should show its teeth. |
| 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 89 Thou hast mistaken quite And laid the *loue iuyce on some true loues sight. 1896 Farmer & Henley Slang IV. 241/1 Love-juice. 1965 J. Gaskell Fabulous Heroine 59 The sheets smelt of linen instead of love-juice. 1968 L. Berg Risinghill 122 ‘What is {oqq}love-juice{cqq}?’ ‘The liquid produced in the vagina of a woman when she is sexually excited.’ 1972 ‘R. Crawford’ Whip Hand i. ix. 54 She was drugged by love-juices and on the brink of sleep. 1972 Pussycat XXXIII. lix. 7/2, I could feel his lovejuice so hot, trickling down into the start of my stomach. |
| c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 2251 (Kölbing) He was nomen wiþ *loue las. |
| 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 84 The Cornation that among the *loue laddes wontes to be worne much. |
| c 1320 Sir Tristr. 2020 Her *loue laike þou bi hald For þe loue of me. |
| 1610 Niccols Eng. Eliza Induct. Mirr. Mag. 776 So soone as Tython's *love-lasse gan display Her opall colours in her Easterne throne. |
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 90 His eie euer bihalt te ȝif þu makest..eni *luue lates touward unðeauwes. |
| 1602 Dekker Satiromastix Wks. 1873 I. 215 Sir Vau... I desire you to..read this Paper. Miniver. Ile receive no *Love libels perdy, but by word a mouth. |
| 1919 M. K. Bradby Psycho-Anal. v. 59 The character and development of the infantile love for father and mother will have an influence on the whole *love-life of later years. 1934 ‘R. West’ Mod. Rake's Progress 74 Ecclesiastics..called out to sanctify the love-life of our puny little George. 1959 A. Christie Cat among Pigeons viii. 89 Even Games Mistresses may have their love lives. 1972 T. Ardies This Suitcase xiii. 140 He's the guy who's trying to break up my love life. |
| c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 2040 Of romances that been royales, Of popes and of cardinales, And eek of *love-lykinge. |
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 81 To giue great Charlemaine a pen in's hand And write to her a *loue-line. |
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xiii. viii, This was a *love-match, as they call it, on both sides; this is, a match between two beggars. 1869 Trollope He Knew etc. xxv. (1878) 138 It was little enough she got by marrying him... But it was a love-match. |
| 1856 W. H. Smyth Rom. Fam. Coins 281 The custom of breaking *love-money, as a pledge of fidelity. |
| 1919 U. Sinclair Brass Check xi. 65 So before long we began to notice dark hints in the newspapers; such esoteric phrases as ‘Sinclair's *love-nest’. 1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 154 Nobody knew of his love-nest. 1972 ‘H. Howard’ Nice Day for Funeral ix. 124 Pamela and Frankie were sharing a love-nest at Lakeland Towers. |
| 1586 D. Rowland Lazarillo ii. (1672) X viii, I was so *love-nettled, that if they had asked me the Phenix..I would have given it them. |
| 1923 J. T. MacCurdy Probl. Dynamic Psychol. xvi. 191 The ‘sentiment of love’..consists in identification with the *love object. 1925 J. Riviere et al. tr. Freud's Coll. Papers IV. 45 In the choice of their love-object they have taken as their model not the mother but their own selves. 1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day vii. 137 When it became apparent that..as a love-object, I myself was unsatisfactory, she started on dogs. 1967 M. E. Romm in C. W. Wahl Sexual Probl. 221 Fetishism is..the utilization in sex of a substitute for the love object. 1973 S. Fisher Female Orgasm xv. 437 Orgasm difficulties were observed to be linked to concern about the instability or potential loss of love objects. |
| c 1613 Middleton No Wit like a Woman's i. ii, Peruse this *love-paper as you go. [Giving letter.] |
| 1872 Hardy Under Greenw. Tree I. i. viii. 113 Good luck attended Dick's *love-passes during the meal. He sat next Fancy. |
| 1845 C. M. Kirkland Western Clearings 106 No one..had ever been able to ascertain whether there had actually been any ‘*love-passages’ between them or not. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. iii. 43 Love-passages of the gods and heroes. |
| 1876 C. D. Warner Wint. Nile i. 24 Garibaldi received one of his wounds, a sort of *love-pat of fame. |
| 1889 Doyle Micah Clarke 377 You are like the same ship when the battle and the storm have..torn the *love-pennants from her peak. |
| 1834 Lytton Pompeii ii. 20 The very air seems to have taken a *love-philtre, so handsome does every face without a beard seem in my eyes. |
| 1911 *Love-play [see courting vbl. n. 3]. 1944 T. Rattigan While Sun Shines ii. 226 You're both very much mistaken if either of you imagines that you're going to have twopence-worth of verbal loveplay with my fiancée on my telephone. 1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex 55 Adult heterosexuality presents fewer problems where early love play is tolerated than where it is suppressed. 1964 L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence 46 Lili: Jo, I don't want to play. Jojozi: [tries to kiss her.] Not even love-play? |
| 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 85 margin, Philters or *love-potions. |
| 1623 Webster Duchess of Malfi v. ii, Confesse to me Which of my women 'twas you hyr'd to put *Loue-powder into my drinke? 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 661 When he's with Love-powder laden, And Prim'd, and Cock'd by Miss, or Madam. 1742 J. Yarrow Love at First Sight 14 There are Things call'd Charms, Bribes, and Love-Powder. |
| c 1805 Mrs. Sherwood in Life xix. (1847) 329, I made her and Annie new caps, which I trimmed with rosettes of black *love-ribbon. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlewk., Love-ribbon,..was employed to tie on Crape Hat-bands when worn at funerals, and is now occasionally worn by ladies in their caps. |
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 109 Nalde ha..nane *luue runes leornin ne lustnen. c 1275 A Luue Ron 2 in O.E. Misc. 93 A Mayde cristes me bit yorne þat ich hire wurche a luue ron. |
| 1639 Massinger Unnat. Combat iii. iii. 181, I will bring you Where you..may see The *love-scene acted. 1818 Theatrical Inquisitor XIII. 183 Love-scenes..which both French and English writers..regard as absolutely essential to their drama. 1850 Hannay Singleton Fontenoy i. iii. I. 35 Circe resumed a love-scene between Adèle and the tender for{cced}at. 1932 R. Campbell Taurine Provence 37 Read his [sc. Shaw's] miserable love-letters (published) and his ‘love-scene’ between Caesar and Cleopatra. 1975 Country Life 6 Feb. 326/2 Intimate, tender love-scenes. |
| 1877 W. Jones Finger-ring 21 The impress being two human heads..the prototype of the numerous ‘*love seals’ of a later period. |
| 1904 *Love-seat [see double chair (double a. A. 6)]. 1915 F. W. Burgess Antique Furnit. 205 Such settees which closely resemble an adaptation of two single chairs, are commonly called ‘love-seats’. 1970 Canad. Antiques Collector Dec. 21/1 A Victorian love seat Mr. Daniel saw being hauled away in a garbage truck. 1973 ‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Starry Bird x. 151 Johnson..kissed her, and then..found a love seat and dropped there beside her. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 9 b, But and he [the tenant] bye his corne in the market or other places, he is than at lybertie to grynde where he may be best serued, that maner of grynding is called *loue Socone, and the lordes tenauntes be called bonde socon. |
| 1918 W. R. Butterfield in Connoisseur Aug. 191/1 At first,..*love-spoons did not differ greatly from the wooden spoons in ordinary use in the household. 1968 J. Arnold Shell Bk. Country Crafts 193 The Welsh carvers..produced a great deal of fine work, amongst which were the celebrated love-spoons. 1972 Country Life 20 Jan. 160/2 These [sc. stay busks] were rather in the manner of Welsh love-spoons and were made by young men for their intended marriage partners. |
| 1605 Chapman All Fools i. i, Where I am cloyde, And being bound to *loue sports, care not for them. |
| 1623 Massinger Bondman i. iii, They cannot..Vsher vs to our Litters, tell *loue Stories. 1890 Barrie My Lady Nicotine xxiii. (1901) 70/1 The tragedy..is led up to by a pathetic love-story. |
| 1633 Shirley Bird in Cage v. I 2 b, Forgetting all their legends, and *Loue tales Of Venus, Cupid, and the scapes of Joue. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 452 The Love-tale Infected Sions daughters with like heat. 1802 Ritson Anc. Engl. Metr. Rom. I. p. vii, The love-tales of Longus, Heliodorus, and Xenophon of Ephesus. |
| 1889 ‘Mark Twain’ Yankee at Crt. K. Arthur xxxiii. 383 When I make up my mind to hit a man, I don't plan out a *love-tap. |
| c 1205 Lay. 169 For he heo heuede swiþe ilofed, & *luf-þing hire biheite. |
| 1493 Dives & Paup. x. viii. I iij b, Y{supt} mischeif is noo curse but a *louetyk of god. 1627 Bp. Hall Passion Serm. Wks. 429 These were but loue-ticks to what His soule endured. 1635 Quarles Embl. iii. vi. 146 Her frownes..may chance to show An angry love-trick [read -tick] on his arme, or so. |
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 1035 Ich mai do þar gode note, And bringe hom *lovetiþinge, Vor ich of chirche songe singe. |
| 1875 McLaren Serm. Ser. ii. iv. 71, I can shut it out, sealing my heart *love-tight against it. |
| 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 350, I am nowe olde, yet haue I in my head a *loue tooth. |
| 1953 ‘Caddie’ Sydney Barmaid xxv. 136 Come on, wot about a little bit of a *luv-up? 1968 M. Allwright Roundabout ix. 65 He looked so beaten by the world that I wanted to gather him in my arms on the spot and give him a good love-up. |
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 117 They perhapps have *love wine ready to give to the company when they light. |
b. In names of plants and animals:
love-and-idle(s,
dial. var. of
love-in-idleness (E.D.D.);
love-bind, the plant Traveller's Joy (Halliwell);
love-bush, the Jamaican name for
dodder n. 1;
love-entangle,
-entangled = love-in-a-mist (a);
love-grass, a grass of the genus
Eragrostis:
love-in-a-mist, (
a) the Fennel-flower,
Nigella damascena; (
b) a West Indian species,
Passiflora fœtida (
cf. G.
liebe im nebel);
love-in-a-puzzle,
Nigella damascena;
love-in-idleness (also
† love-in-idle), the Heartsease,
Viola tricolor;
love-parrakeet,
-parrot = love-bird;
love-shell (see
quot.);
love-tree, the Judas-tree,
Cercis Siliquastrum (
Treas. Bot. 1866); also
tree of love;
love-vine, ‘any species of
Cuscuta, dodder’ (Webster,
Suppl.).
| 1630 J. Taylor (Water-P.) Wks. ii. 134/2 Amongst all Pot-herbes growing on the ground, Time is the least respected, I haue found..When passions are let loose without a bridle, Then precious Time is turnd to *Loue and Idle. |
| 1814 J. Lunan Hortus Jamaicensis I. 266 Cuscuta Americana... The negroes of Liguanea mountains call it *love-bush. 1954 Farmer's Guide (Jamaica Agric. Soc.) 582 The common Love-bushes of Jamaica comprise about four species of Cuscuta. 1962 S. Wynter Hills of Hebron ii. 35 Pale yellow tendrils of the ‘lovebush’ wrapping themselves around the prickly arms of the cactus. |
| 1847 Halliwell, *Love-entangle, the nigella. Cornw. |
| 1841 S. C. Hall Ireland I. 128 Sometimes they are overgrown by weed called ‘*love-entangled’, and the golden stone-crop. |
| 1702 Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXIII. 1257 What is peculiar in this *Love-grass is its having just under each spike, its stalk clammy. |
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 318 *Love in a Mist, Passiflora. 1834 M. Howitt in Tait's Mag. I. 445/2 I'd a noble root of love-in-a-mist. |
| 1824 H. Phillips Flora Hist. II. 151 *Love in a puzzle, Love in a mist,..Nigella Damascena. |
| 1664 S. Blake Compl. Gardeners Pract. 50 *Lowe in idle, or two faces under a hood, is a Flower that is much like Violets. |
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. ii. 149 This floure is called..in English, Pances, *Loue in idlenes, and Hartes ease. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 168 The bolt of Cupid..fell vpon a little westerne flower; Before, milke-white; now purple with loues wound, And maidens call it, Loue in idlenesse. |
| 1864 T. L. Phipson Utilization Minute Life vii. 155 Other species of Cypræa known..by the English as ‘*Love-shells’, are used as ornaments, etc. |
| [*Love-tree: cf. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 317 Tree of Love, Cercis.] |
| 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 325 The long tendrils of the *love-vine rolled up into coils, which he assured us would live and grow for years, if hung on a nail indoors. |
Add:
[16.] [a.] love handle (
usu. in
pl.)
slang (
orig. and chiefly
U.S.), excess fat at the waist.
| 1970 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) IV. iii–iv. 20 Love handles, n. The fat on one's sides. 1981 J. Fonda Workout Bk. (1982) 52 Something certainly happens to those saddle bags,..love handles and plain old lumps. 1989 T. Clancy Clear & Present Danger xiii. 306 His picture was at her bedside, taken only a year before his death, working on his sailboat. No longer a young man when it had been taken, love handles at his waist, much of his hair gone, but the smile. |
▪ II. love, n.2 [Of obscure origin.] One of a set of transverse beams supporting the spits in a smoke-house for the curing of herring.
| 1865 [see spit n.1 4 d]. 1895 A. Patterson Man & Nature on Broads 44 A savoury bloater, fresh down from the ‘loves’, is engrossing our own attentions. 1962 Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 73/2 Loves, wooden splines in a herring curing loft on which the fish are suspended to dry. |
▪ III. love, v.1 (
lʌv)
Forms: 1–2
lufian, 2–3
luvie(n, 3
lovin,
Orm. lufenn,
lufie,
lofvie, 3–4
luven,
loven,
lovie,
luvie,
-ye, 4
Sc. lowe,
luff, 4–5
lofe,
luffe, 4–6
luve,
luf(e, 5
loufe,
lovyn,
Sc. low, 6
loove, (
lub(be),
Sc. luif,
lwf,
luyf,
lwiff, (
lude = luf it), 8– 9
Sc. lo'e, 3–
love.
pa. tense 1
lufode, 2–3
luvede, 3
lufede,
lovede, 4
lovied,
lofde,
louved,
lufud,
-ed,
luv(e)d,
lufd,
lovyd,
north. luffet,
lofit, 4–5
lovet,
lowyt, 4–6
Sc. lovit,
luf(f)it,
-yt, 5
luf(f)ed,
lofed,
-id,
-yd,
loffyd, 6
Sc. luifed,
luif(f)et,
lwffit,
lowitt,
lude,
lwd,
luid, 4–
loved.
pa. pple. 1
ᵹe-lufod, 2–3
iloved,
y-,
iluved,
ileoved, 4–5
yloved, 4– (as in
pa. tense).
[OE. lufian, f. lufu love n.1] 1. a. trans. With personal
obj. or one capable of personification: To bear love to; to entertain a great affection or regard for; to hold dear.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xvii. 1 Ic lufiu ðe dryhten meᵹen min. 1154 O.E. Chron. an. 1137 (Laud MS.) Hi luueden God & gode men. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2042 An litel stund, quhile he was ðer, So gan him luuen ðe prisuner. a 1300 Cursor M. 2328 Þis abram..Ful wel was luued wit god of heuen. 1375 Barbour Bruce i. 360 All men lufyt him for his bounte. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1260 God in holy writ seith..‘Whom so I loue, hym wole I chastyse’. c 1470 Henry Wallace x. 725, I sall, quhill I may leiff, Low yow fer mar than ony othir knycht. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 234 b, I love hym as my brother, and take hym as my frende. a 1600 Montgomerie Misc. Poems x. 45 Love nane bot vhare thou art lude. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. vi. §406 He..loved his country with too unskilful a tenderness. 1653 Walton Angler vii. 153 Tie the frogs leg above the upper joint to the armed wire, and in so doing use him as though you loved him. 1769 Goldsm. Hist. Rome (1786) I. 432 Caesar..was loved almost to adoration by his army. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 128 A man who loved England well, but who loved Rome better. 1885 Ch. Times 13 Nov. 883 Our nation is not much loved across the Atlantic. |
b. spec. with reference to love between the sexes.
to love paramours: see
paramour.
| c 1000 ælfric Gen. xxiv. 67 Isaac..underfeng hiᵹ to wife and lufode hiᵹ [etc.]. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9549 In som þing The quene louede as me wende more him þan þe king. 1375 Barbour Bruce x. 554, I..lufit ane vench her in the toune. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. xxxv. 269, I loue her aboue all ladyes lyuynge. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iv. 15 Lancit with luif she luid me by all wycht. 1604 Shakes. Oth. iv. i. 111, I neuer knew woman loue man so. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 832 So dear I love him, that with him all deaths I could endure. 1711 Ramsay Elegy on Maggy Johnstoun iii, To bonny lasses black or brown, As we loo'd best. 1794 Burns Red, Red Rose ii, And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a' the seas gang dry. 1859 Tennyson Elaine 674–5 If I love not him, I know there is none other I can love. |
† c. Occasional uses, with cogn.
obj. with complement, etc.
Obs.| 1470–85 Malory Arthur ix. viii. 364 The good loue that I haue loued you. 1672 Dryden Marr. à la Mode i. i. Wks. 1883 IV. 261 We loved, and we loved, as long as we could, 'Till our love was loved out in us both. 1678 ― All for Love ii. Wks. 1883 V. 369 We have loved each other Into our mutual ruin. |
d. With
up. To caress, fondle; to engage in love-play with.
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1921 J. Dos Passos Three Soldiers ii. iii. 83 You said you were goin' back and love up that goddam girl. 1928 Dialect Notes VI. 62 If a hillman [in the Ozarks] does admit that he loved a woman he means only that he caressed and embraced her—and he usually says that he loved her up. 1932 K. S. Prichard Kiss on Lips 167 Why don't you give her a hug..love her up a bit? 1957 J. Braine Room at Top xix. 166 If you love me up, I'll be as warm as toast. 1968 M. Allwright Roundabout ix. 59, I never meant any harm; it was just as if he was a puppy I was loving up. |
2. a. Proverbs.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 76 Loue me, loue me dog. a 1548 Hall Chron. (1809) 444 The olde Proverbe love me little and love me longe. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 192 A man maie loue his house well, and yet not ride vpon the ridge. a 1633 G. Herbert Jacula Prudentum 141 Love your neighbour, yet pull not downe your hedge. |
b. In certain vulgar ejaculations:
(Lord) love you (or your heart), etc.
| c 1810 W. Hickey Mem. (1913) II. i. 10 Lord love your honour, to be sure I will. 1821 Scott Pirate I. i. 15 But, Heaven love you, Mr Mertoun, think what you are purposing. 1833 T. Hook Parson's Dau. (1847) 231 Love your heart, sir, a path's never straight. 1841 Lytton Nt. & Morn. ii. ix. II. 15 Quiet! Lord love you! never heard a noisier little urchin! 1843 Dickens Christmas Carol iii. 85 They said it was a shame to quarrel upon Christmas Day. And so it was! God love it, so it was. 1894 R. Bridges Feast of Bacchus ii. 579 Lord love you, I'm not surprised at any one wanting to marry you. 1898 J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 1 Mister Bloomfiel'? Lor' lummy! there ain't no misters 'ere. Ibid. 141 Mine? Lor' luv a duck! No, that's Sal Hogan's little lot. 1916 ‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin xii. 218 ‘Lord love us!..d'you mean to say’—Words failed him. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 176 Lord love a duck, he said, look at what I'm standing drinks to! 1934 T. S. Eliot Rock ii. 65 What's that? Lor-love-a-duck, it's the missus! 1938 ‘J. Bell’ Port of London Murders xv. 247 ‘'Lor love us!’ I says to meself. ‘Something's up.’ 1954 W. Sansom (title) Lord love us. 1955 M. Allingham Beckoning Lady iv. 55 Orf come 'is 'at, and lord luva duck! |
c. to love one's love with an A,
love with a B, etc.: a formula used in games of forfeits.
| [1620 Swetnam Arraigned (Grosart) 24 A husband..so complete As if he had been pickt out of the Christ-Crosse row... Ile begin with A..comparing his good parts as thus: for A, hee is Amiable, Bountefull, Courteous..now for Z he's Zealous.] 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. Wks. 1776 II. 61 One would think that..you should have learnt when J.O. came into play, to love your love with an J, because he is judicious, though you hate your love with an J, because he is jealous: and then to love your love with an O, because he is oraculous, though you hate your love with an O, because he is obscure. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 1006 For these you play at purposes, And love your love's with A's and B's. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. i, I'll give you a clue to my trade, in a game of forfeits. I love my love with a B because she's Beautiful; I hate my love with a B because she's Brazen; I took her to the sign of the Blue Boar, and I treated her with Bonnets; her name's Bouncer, and she lives in Bedlam. |
d. he loves me, he loves me not, etc.: a formula used in divining-games. Also
transf.| [1909 A. E. Gillington Old Hampshire Singing Games facing p. 1 Then they say ‘David Bailey’ (Boy's name), Do you love me? Yes, No, etc. till the skipping girl stops. The two trilling the rope say—‘Alma Bailey’ (Girl's name), Do you love him? Yes, No, etc.] 1946 A. Uttley Country Things v. 64 He loves me. He don't. He'll have me. He won't. He would if he could, But he can't. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. xv. 339 Much energy and calculation is devoted to skipping through the alphabet{ddd}the following sequence being that used by an 11-year-old Portsmouth girl: Does he love me? Yes, no, yes, no... Will he marry me? Yes, no, yes, no. 1971 Guardian 10 July 11/2 Eric Lubbock's private game of ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ with press and politicians is coming to a blessed end. |
e. Phrases.
an (or as) you (or thou, etc.) love me, if (or since) you love me: used as an imprecation;
to love and leave you: a formula of departure;
love them and leave them, etc.: seduce and abandon women.
| 1818 Carlyle Early Lett. (1886) 148 Send a letter quickly, an thou love me. 1823 J. F. Cooper Pioneers i. i. 28 Natty—you need say nothing of the shot, nor of where I am going—remember, Natty, as you love me. 1885 R. Holland Gloss. County of Chester 212 Love you and leave you, a common saying when any visitor is going to take his departure. ‘Well a' mun love ye, and leave ye.’ 1917 ‘S. Rohmer’ Si-Fan Mysteries xxxv. 264 But in waiting for one who is stealthily entering a room, don't, as you love me, take it for granted that he will enter upright. 1930 Amer. Speech Dec. 92 Love'em and leave'em. 1938 W. G. Hardy Turn back River 33 Love 'em and leave 'em; that was the idea. 1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xvi. 259, I wouldn't try to keep me if I was you... Love me and let me leave. 1960 K. Amis Take Girl like You ii. 36 I'm afraid I shall have to love you and leave you. 1967 J. Morgan Involved 11 ‘Dewi, I have to love you and leave you,’ Frankie said. ‘I'm supposed to be on duty.’ 1975 H. McCutcheon Instrument of Vengeance vii. 123 ‘I have many interests.’ ‘But no girls?.. You just love them and leave them, no?’ |
3. absol. and intr. a. To entertain a strong affection;
spec. to have a passionate attachment to a person of the opposite sex; to be in love.
| c 1250 Hymn Virgin 45 in Trin. Coll. Hom. App. 256 Nis non maiden..þat swo derne louiȝe kunne. a 1300 Cursor M. 4510 Qua leli luues for-gettes lat. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 85 Harde is the heart that loueth nought In Mey. a 1550 Christis Kirke Gr. iv, He wald haif lufit, scho wald not lat him. 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 344 One that lou'd not wisely, but too well. 1650 Baxter Saints' R. iii. x. §6 No man else can tell me whether I Believe and Love, if I cannot tell my self. 1710 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to W. Montagu 25 Apr., I can esteem, I can be a friend, but I do not know whether I can love. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xxvii, 'Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all. |
† b. in reciprocal sense; in
ME. to love together (or samen).
Obs.| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1849 Þe body and þe saul with þe lyfe Lufes mare samen þan man and hys wyfe. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 373 It is spedful þat frendes love wel. 1470–85 Malory Arthur xviii. i. 725 They loued to gyder more hotter than they did to fore hand. 1568 Grafton Chron. I. 173 They loved after, as two brethren, during their naturall lyves. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 139 Let them kisse one another: For they lou'd well When they were aliue. 1601 ― Jul. C. iv. iii. 131 Loue, and be Friends. 1790 Cowper Let. to Newton 15 Oct., The day of separation between those who have loved long and well is an awful day. 1791 Burns ‘Ae fond kiss’ ii, Had we never lov'd sae kindly. a 1849 [see love n.1 4]. |
c. to love with: to bear or make love to; to be in love with.
Obs. or
arch.| 1665 R. Brathwait Comment Two Tales 96 That they may have Husbands Meek, to live with, Young, to love with, and Fresh, to lie with. 1883 R. W. Dixon Mano i. iii. 7 He was so gentle and so fair a knight, Who loved with Blanche. |
4. trans. With a thing as
obj.:
a. To be strongly attached to, to be unwilling to part with or allow to perish (life, honour, etc.).
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xii. 25 Seðe lufað sauel his spildeð hia. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 15 Þu aȝest luuan heore saule for cristes luue. 13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2368 Bot for ȝe lufed your lyf, þe lasse I yow blame. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 462 Lordes, if ye your estat and honour Louen, fleemyth this vicius errour! 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) VII. 25 The erle..preide her as sche luffed hir lyfe that [etc.]. 1530 Palsgr. 735/1 No man styrre and he love his lyfe. 1649 Lovelace Lucasta, Going to Wars iii, I could not love thee (Deare) so much, Lov'd I not Honour more. 1661 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 71 As you loue your own affairs,..be pleased..to let me know your minds in these points. |
b. To have a strong liking for; to be fond of; to be devoted or addicted to. In the
U.S. a frequent vulgarism for
like.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 99 It warð on eches muð wat mete se he mest luuede. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7698 Game of houndes he louede. c 1386 Chaucer Cook's T. 12 He loved bet the Taverne than the shoppe. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 113 Þis man ys lycherous, deceyuant, and loufand lecherye. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 393 This Nero luffede gretely instrumentes musicalle. 1611 Bible Prov. xx. 13 Loue not sleepe, lest thou come to pouertie. 1622 Fletcher Beggars Bush iv. v, I love a fat goose, as I love allegiance. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. xx. §4 When a Man declares..that he loves Grapes, it is no more, but that the taste of Grapes delights him. 1738 Swift Pol. Conversat. 10 Colonel, Don't you love Bread and Butter with your Tea? 1796 H. Glasse Cookery iii. 19 Some love a pig brought whole to table. 1801 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) III. 146, I respect the English nation highly, but I do not love their manners. 1817 Scott Search after Happiness xviii, She loved a book, and knew a thing or two. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iv. I. 447 The new king, who loved the details of naval business. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., To Love, for to like. ‘Do you love pumpkin pie?’ |
c. To take pleasure in the existence of (a virtue, a practice, a state of things) in oneself, in others, or in the world generally.
| a 1225 Leg. Kath. 431 Ȝef ha nalde leauen þet ha ȝet lefde, & hare lahe luuien. c 1250 Old Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 28 We mowe..luuie þo ilek [read ilke] þinkes þat he luued. a 1300 Cursor M. 20114 Ne luued scho notþer fight ne strijf. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 25 He..loved wel pees and quyet. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 122 Euer lowynge ryght and verite. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. (S.T.S.) 122 Thow luiffis treuth, gude Lord. 1653 Walton Angler xiii. 246 All that hate contentions, and love quietnesse, and vertue, and Angling. 1775 Burke Corr. (1844) II. 26, I love firm government. 1902 Edin. Rev. July 84 Universal humanity loves sharp practice. |
5. Of plants or animals: To have a tendency to thrive in (a certain kind of situation).
Cf. L.
amare,
diligere.
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 462 The Pitch-tree loveth the mountains and cold grounds. 1706 London & Wise Retir'd Gard'ner I. xi. 157 Fig-trees..love loose, hot ground. 1760 Brown Compl. Farmer ii. 85 All sorts of pease love limed or marled land. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 22 Rabbits are found to love a warm climate, and to be incapable of bearing the cold of the north. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. xix. (1813) 331 Willow herb..loves moisture. 1866 B. Taylor Proposal Poems 257 The violet loves a sunny bank. |
6. a. Const.
inf. To have great pleasure in doing something.
† Also
rarely of things (
= L.
amare,
Gr. ϕιλεῖν) to be accustomed (
obs.).
| c 1350 Will. Palerne 162 Ȝe þat louen & lyken to listen a-ni more. 14.. Sir Beues (MS. M.) 82 He lovith not with me to rage. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 126 Those women that loue not to curle vp their haire roistinglie, but vse to kembe it downe smoothlie. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 462 The Larch tree..loveth to grow in the same places. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World v. iii. §15. 436 Young men..loue to seeme wiser then their fathers. 1626 Bacon Sylva §703 Salmons and Smelts loue to get into Riuers, though it be against the Streame. 1704 F. Fuller Med. Gymn. (1711) 103 They don't love to be told the Truth, tho' it is ever so necessary. 1728–46 Thomson Spring 402 Down to the river, in whose ample wave Their little naiads love to sport at large. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. s.v., ‘I'd love to have that bonnet’. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 246, I love to hear you wise men talk. |
† b. with
acc. and inf. or
obj.-clause: To desire or like (something to be done).
Obs.| c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 440 He louyde hem not to be worldly riche. 1682 T. Flatman Heraclitus Ridens No. 74 (1713) II. 205 Our Whigs don't love Justice should be executed without 'em. |
7. To embrace affectionately. (A childish use.)
| 1877 J. Habberton Helen's Babies 31, ‘I was only a-lovin' you, cos you was good, and brought us candy’. 1889 Harper's Mag. July 271/2 Putting his arms round her neck, [he] ‘loved’ her with his cheek against hers. 1893 Olive Schreiner Story Afr. Farm ii. i. 132 Some pale-green, hairy-leaved bushes..meet over our head; and we sit among them, and kiss them, and they love us back. |
8. Comb.:
love-and-tear-it dial. [corruption of
Lavatera], the tree mallow,
Lavatera arborea;
† love-man, cleavers,
Galium Aparine;
† love-pot a., drunken.
| 1598 Florio, Philantropo, the herbe goose-grasse or loue man. 1611 Ibid., Berghinellare, to gad abrode a gossoping as a pratling loue-pot woman. 1611 Cotgr., Riéble, Cleauer,..Loue-man, Goose-grasse. 1880 A. Sartoris Past Hours II. 55 ‘Love-and-tear-it!’—the name..down in our part of the world for..the mallow. |
Add:
[4.] d. (With gerund or gerundive phrase as
obj.) To enjoy, to take pleasure in (doing, being, etc.).
Cf. *
like v.
1 6 h.
| a 1500 Emare viii. 78 The emperour..myche loued playnge. 1545 R. Ascham Toxophilus (Arb.) 45 The best learned and sagest men in this Realme..both loue shoting and vse shoting. 1623 New & Merry Prognost. sig. E2, Beggars loue brawling, And wretches loue wrawling. 1732 in T. Fuller Gnomologia 216 They love dancing well, that dance barefoot upon thorns. 1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham II. v. 46 For the rest, he loved trotting better than cantering. 1911 M. Beerbohm Let. 6 Dec. (1964) 211 You who..love being behind the scenes among T-lights and properties. 1991 N.Y. Times Mag. 17 Nov. 43/2 While she has a driver in the city, she loves taking the wheel in the country. |
▪ IV. † love, v.2 Obs. Forms: 1
lofian, 3
Orm. lofenn, 4
louve, 4–5
loove,
lof(e,
Sc. loyf, 4–6
love,
Sc. low(e, 5
lowf, 5–6
Sc. loif(e, 6
loave,
Sc. lowff,
loff.
[OE. lofian = OS. loƀon (Du. loven), OHG. lobôn, lobên (MHG., mod.G. loben), ON. lofa (Sw. lofva, Da. love):—OTeut. loƀôjan, -æ̂jan, f. *loƀo- praise: see lof.] 1. trans. To praise, extol.
| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 508 Ic ᵹehyrde hine þine dæd & word lofian on his leohte. c 1200 Ormin 3484 Menn sholldenn cnawenn himm & lofenn himm & wurrþenn. a 1300 Cursor M. 18487 Loues nu vr lauerd dright. 14.. How Good Wife taught Dau. 140 (in Barbour's Bruce, etc. 529) Loyf all leid, and no man lak. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 27 He was lufit, and lovit, and honourit throuout all the warld. c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 1460, I yow besek,..Quha will nocht low, lak nocht my eloquence. 1513 Douglas æneis i. Prol. 427 Virgill did diligence..Eneas for to loife and magnify. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cvi. 32 They wolde exalte him in the congregacion of the people, & loaue him in the seate of the elders. a 1586 Montgomerie Misc. Poems I. 1 Luiffaris, leif of to loif so hie ȝour ladyes. |
| with cogn. obj. a 1300 E.E. Psalter cv. 12 Þai..looued his lofe [Vulg. laudaverunt laudem ejus]. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 321 Þai..loved his lovyng als þai couth say. |
b. absol. To give praise; also, to flatter.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) lxx. 21 Mine weleras ᵹefeoð, wynnum lofiað. c 1470 Henryson Fables iii. xxx. in Anglia IX. 360 To loif and le that settis thair haill delite. c 1475 Rauf Coilȝear 87 For first to lofe, and syne to lak, Peter! it is schame. 1549 Compl. Scot. xv. 130 To loue vitht out flattery. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. x. 474 Gif tha Loue, praise ouermekle, or commend. |
2. To appraise, estimate or state the price or value of.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 213 Þe sullere loueð his þing dere... Ðe beȝer bet litel þar fore. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 314/2 Lovon, and bedyn as chapmen, licitor. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xx. 239 Now, Judas, sen he shalbe sold How lowfys thou hym? 1530 Palsgr. 614/2, I love, as a chapman loveth his ware that he wyll sell... Come of, howe moche love you it at? |
▪ V. love variant of
lof,
loove;
obs. f. loof,
luff.