lady-loven.
/leɪdˈɪlʌv/, /ˈleɪdɪlʌv/, U.S. /ˌleɪdiˈləv/, /ˈleɪdiˌləv/ 1. A woman who is the object of love or devotion; a female sweetheart. Also as a form of address.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > a lover > [noun] > one who is loved or a sweetheart > specifically a female sweetheart or girlfriend
lief971
ladya1393
ladyshipa1393
speciala1400
amiec1400
womanc1400
amoreta1425
mistressc1425
paramoura1450
fair ladya1470
girl?a1513
sooterkin1530
Tib1533
she1547
lady-love1568
jug1569
young lady1584
pigeon1592
love-lass1594
lass1596
dowsabel1612
swainling1615
lucky1629
Dulcinea1638
Lindabrides1640
inamorata1651
baby1684
best girl1691
lady friend1733
young woman1822
moll1823
querida1834
sheila1839
bint1855
tart1864
babykins1870
Dona1874
novia1874
fancy-girl1892
girlfriend1892
cliner1895
tootsy1895
dinah1898
best1904
twist and twirl1905
jane1906
kitten1908
patootie1918
meisie1919
bride1924
gf1925
jelly1931
sort1933
a bit (also piece) of homework1945
beast1946
queen1955
momma1964
mi'jita1970
her indoors1979
girlf1991
1568 A. Scott Poems (1896) xv. 24 Sweit maistres, lady luffe & lusty wicht.
1595 T. Morley 1st Bk. Balletts xx. sig. D iv Why weepes alas, my ladie loue and Mistres.
1733 Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet i. ii. 99 in L. Theobald Wks. Shakespeare VII. 138 Your Lady-love [1623 Ladies loue].
1805 W. Scott Lay of Last Minstrel iv. xvi. 107 With favour in his crest, or glove, Memorial of his Ladye-love.
1841 G. P. R. James Brigand ii What man is there without a lady-love.
1866 C. M. Yonge Cameos lxxix, in Monthly Packet Sept. 214 She begged the King to consent to his..marriage with his lady-love.
1937 R. K. Narayan Bachelor of Arts iv. 72 He behaved like a mediaeval warrior goaded by his lady-love into slaying a dragon.
1999 New Yorker 29 Nov. 124/3 In December, 1912, Colette abandoned the arty-nudie theatre circuit and her top-hatted lady love to become a respectable politician's wife.
2007 Sunday Times (Nexis) 16 Sept. 8 My lady love wasn't too impressed.
2. Love for a lady or ladies; (in later use also) love between women, lesbian love. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > homosexuality > [noun] > specifically between women
Sapphism1795
tribadism1811
lesbianism1870
tribady1907
girl-on-girl1995
lady-love2003
1818 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Canto IV xl. 23 The minstrel who..Sang ladye-love and war.
1827 L. E. Landon Golden Violet 129 I have no tale of knightly deed... I have no tale of lady love, Begun and ended in a sigh.
2003 Sun (Nexis) 18 Aug. When you're looking for sensational storylines, lady love is series viewer-pulling girl power.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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