释义 |
loven.1 Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian luve love, Old Saxon luƀa love, inclination, Old High German luba love, inclination (also in the compound muotluba , mōtluba love), and also with Gothic (weak feminine) -lubō (in brōþru-lubō brotherly love) < the same Germanic base as Old Saxon luƀig willing, pious, Old English lufen hope, Gothic lubains hope, and probably also lof n. (and hence love v.2); these are probably all formed on the zero-grade of an Indo-European base, other ablaut grades of which are also widely represented in Germanic languages. Compare (from the e-grade) lief adj. and the derived verb forms Old English lēofian to be or become dear, Middle Dutch lieven to be dear (to), to please (Dutch †lieven , superseded by liefhebben to love, to cherish, lit. ‘to have dear’), Old High German liobōn , liuben to make agreeable or dear, to be agreeable or dear, to desire, to do (someone) good (Middle High German lieben to make agreeable or dear, to be or become agreeable or dear, to be pleasing (to), to show kindness (to), German lieben to love, to be fond of), and also Middle Dutch liefde agreeableness, affection, friendship (Dutch liefde love), Middle Dutch lieve agreeableness, affection, friendship, love, Old High German liubī , also liuba the pleasure that one experiences for or through something, agreeableness, fondness, kindliness, goodwill (Middle High German liebe , in the same range of senses, German Liebe love); the o-grade of the same base is probably shown by leave n.1, belief n., believe v.Outside Germanic the same Indo-European base is probably shown by classical Latin lubet (also libet ) it is pleasing, lubīdō (also libīdō ) desire, Old Church Slavonic ljubiti to love, ljubŭ dear, ljuby (genitive ljubŭve ) love, Old Russian ljubiti to love (Russian ljubit′ ), ljub′′ dear (Russian ljub ), ljuby (genitive ljub′′ve ) love (Russian ljubov′ ), Sanskrit lubh- to be confused, (later) to feel avid desire, to allure, lobha (noun) desire, greed. (For a very different account of the relationships among the various Germanic words, based on the hypothesis that leaf n.1 is also related, see F. Kluge Etymologisches Wörterbuch (ed. 24, 2002) at lieb, Laub, Lob, glauben, etc.) In Old English usually a strong feminine (lufu ); however, a weak feminine form (lufe ) is also attested. With use denoting a person compare leman n. I. Senses relating to affection and attachment. 1. the mind > emotion > love > [noun] eOE (Mercian) (1965) cviii. 4 (5) Posuerunt aduersum me mala pro bonis, et odium pro dilectione mea : settun wið me yfel fore godum & laeððu fore lufan minre. OE (Corpus Cambr.) xv. 13 Næfð nan man maran lufe þonne ðeos ys þæt hwa sylle his lif for his freondum. c1225 (?c1200) (Bodl.) 95 (MED) Hire feader feng on earst feire on to lokin ȝef he mahte wið eani luue speden. a1325 (c1250) (1968) l. 8 Man may him wel loken..Luuen god and seruen him ay..And to alle cristenei men Beren pais and luue bi-twen. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 155 Wommen moste be ouercome with fairenesse and loue, and nouȝt wiþ sternesse and drede. a1400 (a1325) (Vesp.) l. 20300 Vre leuedi wep, saint iohan alsua, Treu luue was omang þam tua. ?a1425 (Egerton) (1889) 2 What lufe he had til his sugets. 1485 (Caxton) i. viii. sig. avv He wende that al the kynges and knyghtes had come for grete love and to have done hym worship at his feste. 1535 2 Sam. i. 26 Thy loue hath bene more speciall vnto me, then the loue of wemen. 1597 T. Morley Pref. Adiuring me by the loue of my contrie. 1598 W. Shakespeare v. ii. 415 My loue to thee is sound, sance cracke or flaw. View more context for this quotation 1611 Dan. i. 9 God had brought Daniel into fauour and tender loue with the Prince of the Eunuches. View more context for this quotation 1680 W. Temple Ess. Orig. & Nature of Govt. in 89 In all these Wars the People were both united and spirited by the common Love of their Country. 1680 A. Littleton 16 What shall we say to those who take up Godliness..as if their strictness and zeal..excused them from all offices of love to their fellow-men. 1717 T. Parnell in tr. Pref. sig. A3v This particular Knowledge..which sprung from the Love I bear him, has made me fond of a Conversation with you. 1765 W. Cowper in R. Southey (1835) I. 155 My heart was full of love to all the congregation. 1817 29 Dec. 2 Liberalism, the love of country, the feeling of duty, have little to do with this extraordinary division. 1818 W. Cruise (ed. 2) II. 346 The natural love which Thomas Kirby bore to his brother. 1836 W. Irving I. 279 His dominant spirit, and his love for the white men, were evinced in his latest breath. 1872 J. Morley i. 2 They should prove their love of him whom they had not seen, by love of their brothers whom they had seen. 1912 T. Dreiser xxiv. 290 He was counting practically, and man-fashion, on her love for her children. 1940 Apr. 100/1 There wasn't much about Lang Bolton you'd call human except his love for a black and white cow-dog named Rounder. 1975 T. Callender 20 Peace and love between we and them St. Judes men? Man, you mekking mock-sport! 1990 M. Martin 42 The two seminal and ineradicable loves of any individual human being are the love of God and the love of one's native country. 2004 Nov. 82/2 To speculate that he was trying to surpass his father and win his mother's love, as some psychohistorians have done, is to take the easy way out. the mind > emotion > love > [noun] > as an abstract principle eOE Cleopatra Gloss. in W. G. Stryker (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1951) 39 Affectu, for hylde & lufe. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon (Calig.) (1963) 2079 He hehte þat luue [c1300 Otho: lofe] scolde liðen heom bi-tweonen. a1400 (a1325) (Vesp.) l. 99 (MED) O reut [a1400 Fairf. petey], o loue, and charite, Was neuer hir mak. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland (Laud 581) (1869) B. i. 146 (MED) Trewthe telleþ þat loue is triacle of heuene. a1500 (?a1425) tr. (Lamb.) 135 Humylite Engendryth lowe that destrueth envy and hatredyn. 1557 F. Seager Schoole of Vertue in (2002) i. 349 Loue doth moue the mynde to mercie. a1628 J. Preston (1631) 8 Love and hatred are..the great Lords and Masters, that divide the rest of the affections between them. 1693 W. Bates v. 176 Human Love is a troubled irregular Passion, mixt with Ignorance, and prone to Error in the Excess or Defect. 1715 J. Barker Pref. sig. A3 Love is the Passion which generally attends Youth. 1798 J. Baillie Introd. Disc. in 62 Love is the chief groundwork of almost all our tragedies and comedies. 1809 S. T. Coleridge (2002) III. 70 Love is a desire of the whole being to be united to some thing, or some being, felt necessary to its completeness. 1911 Ld. H. Tennyson 122 He liked home-thrusts at human foibles and frailty, and again the outwelling of native nobility, generosity, or love. 1941 V. Woolf 92 Love. Hate. Peace. Three emotions made the ply of human life. 1999 J. Wood 181 At its highest levels, the novelist's ability to penetrate the otherness of his characters is indistinguishable from love. the mind > emotion > love > affection > [noun] > instance of affection the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > kindness > [noun] > act of kindness OE 116 Þonne ic me to fremþum freode hæfde, cyðþu gecwe[me] me wæs a cearu symle lufena to leane, swa ic alifde nu. a1200 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Trin. Cambr.) 314 in R. Morris (1873) 2nd Ser. 229 (MED) Alle godel [read godes] laȝes hie fulleð..Þe þe þos two luues [v.rr. two loue, twa luue, two luuen] halt and wile hes wel healde. a1450 (Westm. Sch. 3) 11 Alle þe loues þat euere were, or þat euere hadde fadir or modir to here childer. 1548 vi. f. liiijv All these loues, bondes and deuties of necessite are this daie to be experimented, shewed and put in experience. 1573 G. Gascoigne 330 No such trustlesse flood, Should keepe our loues (long time) in twayne. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iv. i. 49 What good loue may I performe for you? View more context for this quotation 1632 W. Lithgow v. 189 I met with an English ship..whose loues I cannot easily forget. 1695 J. Norris x. 233 We are therefore to cast both these Loves into one and the same Chanel, and make them both flow in one full Current towards God. 1733 A. Pope ii. 35 We learn..those Joys, those Loves, those Int'rests to resign. 1795 C. Lloyd 50 Those friendships, those loves, those emotions so dear, That thrill the young mind. a1853 F. W. Robertson (1858) i. 25 The same feelings and anxieties and loves. 1934 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ ii. 77 An antrin magic that bound you in one with the mind, not only the body of a man, with his dreams and desires, his loves, even hates. a1968 T. Merton tr. Meng Tzu Ox Mountain Parable ii, in (1977) 971 The moisture of the dawn spirit Awakens in us the right loves, the right aversions. 2002 17 Apr. 34/2 The movie soundtrack has become the new hip canvas for artists to flex their cinematic loves and leanings. society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > action of courts in claims or grievances > [noun] > amicable settlement society > law > legal obligation > bond or recognizance > requiring or giving legal security > legal security [phrase] > denoting being member of frank-pledge lOE (Rochester) iii. xiii. §3. 232 Þar þegen age twegen costas, lufe oððe lage, & he þonne lufe geceose, stande þæt swa fæst swa se dom. a1325 (c1250) (1968) l. 635 God gat it: a token of luuen [Genesis 9:12: signum fœderis] Taunede him in ðe wakene a-buuen, Rein-bowe, men cleped, reed and blo. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden (Harl. 2261) (1869) II. 347 The gentiles vsede to caste downe the bloode of a sowe in to a signe of luffe. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden (Harl. 2261) (1872) IV. 123 He..was receyvede in to the frendschippe of the Romanes, and the forme of the luffe and convention made was wryten in tables of brasse. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 99 Hit [sc. Oreb] is called also the mownte of fere and of luffe [L. mons terroris et fœderis]. c1503 R. Arnold f. xxxij/1 Yf ther bee ony persone wythin the warde that is not vnder francpledge that is to saye vndir loue and lawe. the world > the supernatural > deity > Christian God > nature or attributes of God > [noun] > love OE (Northumbrian) v. 42 Sed cognoui uos quia dilectionem dei non habetis in uobis: ah ic cuðe iuih þætte lufu godes [OE Rushw. lufo godes] ne habbas gie in iuih. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris (1873) 2nd Ser. 141 Ure drihten..forgiaf hire hire sinnen, for two þinge, an is muchel leððe to hire sunne, oðer muchel luue to him. a1350 in K. Böddeker (1878) 201 (MED) Suete loue þe dude gredyn. a1500 ( Vision E. Leversedge in (1905) 9 34 In the name of our Lord Jhesu Crist and for that lof that he had vn to ȝou in the tyme of his passion. 1526 1 John v. 3 This is the love of god, that we kepe his commaundementes. 1611 1 John iv. 16 God is loue, and hee that dwelleth in loue, dwelleth in God. View more context for this quotation a1629 W. Pinke (1636) 84 Lastly, it will not be amisse to obserue two things of this loue of complacency arising from a perswasion of Christs loue vnto vs in particular. 1648 S. Rutherford xix. 20 We teach that the love of benevolence and good will is the liking, free delight, and choise of the person to glory, and to all the meanes, even to share in Christs Mediatory love. 1720 D. Manley i. 71 Then it was, that she felt the Love of God. 1796 S. T. Coleridge Relig. Musings in 153 Lord of unsleeping Love, From everlasting Thou! 1836 J. Gilbert viii. 308 The death of Christ was the expression of Divine love. 1861 C. H. Spurgeon VI. 186 When Adam sinned, though God was merciful, he could not show love to one who had become a rebel; I mean—not the love of complacency—though the love of benevolence never ceased for a moment. 1876 J. B. Mozley ii. 29 Love in the Gospel sense is that general virtue which covers the motives. 1925 Apr. 65/2 Teaching their children the love and fear of God and the joy of tasks well done. 1955 R. B. Braithwaite 18 Unless a Christian's assertion that God is love (agape)..be taken to declare his intention to follow an agapeistic way of life, he could be asked what is the connexion between the assertion and the intention. 1978 I. B. Singer xiv. 243 To me..you are my rebbe. Your every word is filled with wisdom and love of God as well. 2002 N. Drury 295/1 In Sufism, total submission to Allah and love for him leads to the attainment of spiritual truth. the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > [noun] eOE tr. Bede (Tanner) iv. xxviii. 362 Swa mycel getydnes & gelærednes to sprecenne & swa mycel lufu godcundre lare [OE Corpus Oxf. swa mycel lufu to godcundre lare; L. tantus amor persuadendi]. eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius (Otho) xxxv. 101 Ne fo we no & [read on] ða bisna & on ða bispel for ðara leasena spella lufan, ac forðæmðe we woldon mid gebecnan þa soðfæstnesse. a1325 (c1250) (1968) l. 4067 And for luue of ðis horeplage, Manie for-leten godes lage. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus (BL Add.) f. 317 Also þe bere loueþ hony most of ony þing, and he brekeþ trees & clymbeþ on trees for loue of hony combes. a1500 (?a1425) tr. (Lamb.) 218 Philosophie is no more but loue of witte and cvnnynge. 1548 f. ccxxxviiv Blynde auarice and loue of money. 1611 M. Smith in Transl. Pref. 2 For the loue that he bare vnto peace. 1688 W. Smith ii. i. 113 Take notice how sillily one man manageth his love of Money. 1726 A. Pope in tr. Homer V. Postscr. 278 Let our love to Antiquity be ever so great. 1773 H. Chapone II. 32 The love of truth, and a real desire of improvement. 1839 W. H. Ainsworth I. i. i. 7 Under the name, traced in charcoal, appeared the following record of the poor fellow's fate, ‘Hung himsel in this rum for luv off licker’. 1877 W. E. Gladstone in Nov. 547 The love of freedom itself is hardly stronger in England than the love of aristocracy. 1887 T. Fowler 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 (1900) II. iv. 43 When I was about fifteen my love for poetry began to get the better of my love for science. 1911 I. M. Pagan ii. 31 The burlesque Taurean is fat, thick-necked, gross and overfed looking, and often has a great love of low comedy. 1952 ‘R. Gordon’ i. 9 His love for his old hospital, like one's affection for the youthful homestead, increased steadily with the length of time he had been shot of it. 1987 E. Feinstein iii. 64 Marina's interest in gypsies was part of her love of everything exotic. 2006 Dec. 72/2 Para-alpinists and climbers share a love of the environment and all that is steep. 4. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] OE (Claud.) xxix. 20 Iacob him hyrsumode þa seofan gear for Rachele, & hit him þuhte feawa daga for þære lufe þe he to hyre hæfde [L. prae amoris magnitudine]. c1225 (?c1200) (Bodl.) (1940) l. 479 (MED) Forte drahen his luue towart hire. ?a1300 Dame Sirith in G. H. McKnight (1913) 1 Reste neuede he non, Þe loue wes so strong. a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) ii. l. 667 This was a sodeyn loue, how myght it be That she so lyghtly louede Troylus Right for þe firste syghte ye parde. a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) i. 508 Now art þow yn þe snare That whilom Iapedest at loues peyne. c1450 (?a1400) (Ashm.) 226 (MED) Þe lede lawid in hire lofe as leme dose of gledis. a1513 W. Dunbar (1998) I. 101 I hard a merle with mirry notis sing A sang of lufe. a1593 C. Marlowe (1598) i. 175 Where both deliberat, the loue is slight, Who euer lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight? 1667 J. Milton iv. 750 Haile wedded Love, mysterious Law, true sourse Of human ofspring. View more context for this quotation 1691 R. Ames (title of poem) The pleasures of love and marriage. 1738 J. Hildebrand i. 45 A Wife's Conjugal Love may..be try'd a little farther, than, in Conscience, it ought to be. 1769 F. Brooke II. cxx. 220 She opened to me all her heart on the subject of her love for Rivers. a1849 E. A. Poe Annabel Lee in (1969) I. 477 We loved with a love that was more than love—I and my Annabel Lee. 1872 O. Logan 272 The woman who dares to put her heart out of the question, and without a thought of love to sell herself to a man whose material wealth she desires to share is—to put it mildly—a trafficker. 1950 W. Durant xxv. 702 At his court troubadours were encouraged to sing the joys and pains of love. 1979 B. Bainbridge vii. 133 Love does exist... All I know is it passes off. 2000 4 Apr. 15/2 Today, it seems obligatory that if you want to describe love you have to have two people humping around in a bed. the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [noun] > love affairs the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > state of being in love > instance of being in love 1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione iii. sig. Ii.i v M. Francis Petrarca, that writt so diuinlye his loues in this oure tunge. 1589 G. Puttenham iii. xxiii. 225 Nothing is so vnpleasant to a man, as to be encountred in his chiefe affection, & specially in his loues. 1590 E. Spenser i. ii. sig. B3 Like a young Squire, in loues and lusty hed His wanton daies that euer loosely led. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1622) v. ii. 43 Oth. Thinke on thy sinnes. Des. They are loues I beare to you. View more context for this quotation 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil 137 All the Rapes of Gods, and ev'ry Love, From ancient Chaos down to youthful Jove. View more context for this quotation 1738 J. Swift 103 I suppose, the Colonel was cross'd in his first Love. 1767 R. Bentley iv. ii. 42 Her loves with Bacchus, and her stellar wreath, Are allegorical, and mean no more Than the song tells us. 1844 B. Disraeli III. viii. ii. 202 The sweet pathos of their mutual loves. 1849 G. P. R. James I. ii. 9 Tapestry..representing..the loves of Mars and Venus..did not in those days at all shock the inhabitants of the nunnery. 1895 A. Douglas Let. in H. M. Hyde (1948) 360 There are several women in London whose friendship with other women does carry a taint and a suspicion, simply because these women are obviously ‘sapphic’ in their loves. 1933 D. Thomas ?21 Dec. (1987) 67 You..dwell, unhappily but unbrokenly, upon the passing of juvenile loves. 1974 I. Murdoch 81 Oh my sweetikin, how can such a love as ours stop? 2003 (Nexis) 20 June (Weekend section) 13 The Carrie-Jack relationship doesn't have the spark of her past loves. 1717 G. Sewell Prol. in S. Centlivre sig. A5v This is her first attempt in Tragick-Stuff; And here's Intrigue, and Plot, and Love enough. 1781 S. Johnson Addison in V. 46 The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love... Yet the Love is..intimately mingled with the whole action. 1860 T. B. Macaulay William Pitt in (2nd par.) This piece..is in some respects highly curious. There is no love. The whole plot is political. 1892 22 Oct. 476/1 [The] story turns..on murder and revenge, with a little love thrown in. 1932 B. L. Suzuki 19 A romantic play (jo or katsuramono), in which the chief character is a woman and the chief motive love. 1949 F. Towers (1952) 30 Must she also have a beautiful mind, to set her above other people and make her so fastidious that she wouldn't even let one got to a cinema or read a book with love in it? the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual desire > [noun] the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > [noun] OE (Corpus Cambr. 196) 22 Nov. 254 On þære nyhte þa heo wæs ingelæded on þone brydbur, þa sæde heo þam brydguman þæt heo gesawe engel of heofenum and se wolde hyne slean myd færdeaðe, gif he hyre æfre onhryne myd unclænre lufon. a1300 (a1250) 514 In boke is ðe turtres lif writen o rime, Wu laȝelike ȝe holdeð luue al hire lif-time. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden (St. John's Cambr.) (1874) V. 185 A ȝongelynge..þat hadde obleged hym self to the devel for þe love of a wenche. c1480 (a1400) St. Vincent 13 in W. M. Metcalfe (1896) II. 259 Fals erroure, & lufe vnclene, & warldis dout als. 1567 in J. Cranstoun (1891) I. iv. 28 Hir licherous luife, quhilk kindlit ouer hait. a1568 A. Scott (1896) 27 A leddy als, for luf, to tak Ane propir page, hir tyme to pass. 1611 Prov. vii. 18 Come, let vs take our fill of loue vntill the morning. View more context for this quotation 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iii, in tr. Virgil 99 Six Seasons use; but then release the Cow, Unfit for Love, and for the lab'ring Plough. View more context for this quotation 1762 Ld. Kames I. ii. 60 Animal love when exerted into action by natural impulse singly, is neither social nor selfish. ?1775 J. Lamb 62 Lustful Love, inflamed had his Dame, She for him burn'd with an unlawful flame. 1828 J. Stark II. 272 Both sexes, in the season of love, have the habit of calling one another by striking rapidly with their mandibles on the wood. 1860 W. Wallace vii. 131 It is not an unbroken succession of drinking feasts and of revelry, not the pleasures of sexual love,..which produce a pleasant life. 1925 W. Lewis Foxes' Case in Oct. 77 Ectogenetic birth will shortly supersede the present brutal rigmarole of animal love. 1965 1 Oct. 493/3 A straggly-bearded, myopic agitator earning a free night of love with Annie Girardot's golden-hearted whore. 1990 27 Apr. b1/1 In an age when the lingering concept of free love collides with the call for safe sex, S/M is as popular as ever. 6. the mind > emotion > love > loved one > [noun] the mind > emotion > love > a lover > [noun] > one who is loved or a sweetheart c1225 (?c1200) (Bodl.) (1981) 557 He is mi lif ant mi luue. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland (Laud 581) (1869) B. iv. 49 Rose, Reginoldes loue [c1400 A text lemmon]. c1450 ( G. Chaucer (Fairf. 16) (1871) l. 91 And where my lord my loue be deed? a1470 T. Malory (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 359 He is my fyrste love and he shal be the laste. a1593 C. Marlowe Passionate Sheepheard in (1600) sig. Aav Come liue with mee, and be my loue. 1600 W. Shakespeare iv. i. 274 Whether Bassanio had not once a loue . View more context for this quotation c1606 G. Wither Love Sonn. iii, in (1638) C 4 In Summer-time to Medley My love and I would goe. 1689 N. Lee i. iii. 10 With the Curtains half drawn, My Love and I lay. 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Æneis viii, in tr. Virgil 442 One Heifar who had heard her Love complain, Roar'd from the Cave. 1729 H. Carey (ed. 3) 135 I'll strip the Garden and the Grove, To make a Garland for my Love. 1772 W. Jones 43 Told to their smiling loves their am'rous tales. 1792 J. Wolcot III. 259 Her feather'd Partner..Now for his loves pursues his airy way, And now with food returns. 1819 W. Scott Bride of Lammermoor ii, in 3rd Ser. III. 19 It is best to be off wi' the old love Before you be on wi' the new. a1822 P. B. Shelley Charles I v, in (1870) II. 394 A widow bird sate mourning for her love Upon a wintry bough. 1870 F. W. H. Myers 92 She and her love,—how dimly has she seen him Dark in a dream and windy in a wraith! 1900 J. M. Barrie xxv. 303 There are poor dogs of men..who open their letters from their loves, knowing exactly what will be in them. 1926 T. Hardy (ed. 2) 126 When I've overgot The world somewhat, When things cost not Such stress and strain, Is soon enough..To tell my Love I am come again. 1955 R. S. Thomas 31 Your love is dead, lady, your love is dead. 1995 11 Feb. 33/3 When we celebrate St Valentine's on Tuesday, I am hoping my love will join me in a Waggle Dance. the mind > emotion > love > terms of endearment > [noun] c1405 (c1387–95) G. Chaucer (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 672 Ful loude he soong com hyder loue [1477 Glasgow my loue] to me. c1503 (Pynson) sig. F.ii She sayde beuys loue dere, Ryde nat fro me in no manere. 1600 iii. sig. D4 Why loue, doubt you that? 1600 iii. sig. E4 Thou art growne passing strange, my loue. 1642 8 That the said Lang doth affirm that the Book of Canticles in the Old Testament was but a kind of baudy Song, My Love, my Dove, my faire one, &c. 1757 D. Garrick iv. 35 No more, my Love, complaining of the past, We lose the present Joy. 1795 S. T. Coleridge 85 How oft, my Love! with shapings sweet I paint the moment, we shall meet! 1812 T. Moore Young May Moon in III. v. 18 The young May moon is beaming, love. 1860 C. Patmore iii. ii. 180 And there's another thing, my Love, I wish you'd show you don't approve. 1895 A. W. Pinero iii. 104 Paula love, I fancied you and Aubrey were a little more friendly. 1920 ‘K. Mansfield’ 17 Jan. (1993) III. 182 You were not made of steel. Oh, my Love, was I so heavy? 1957 J. Braine vi. 52 T'lad's cum to enjoy hisen, 'aven't you, luv? 1966 29 Jan. 22/3 ‘Sit over here, love,’ he said as another actress entered. 1968 A. Clarke x. 126 The nurses called me ‘Luv’ or ‘Dear’. 1991 J. Cartwright 1 Landlady: Stuff it man. (To customer.) Yes love can I help you? 2002 C. Newland ii. 23 The chance was too good to miss, luv. society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > [noun] > illicit intimacy > person c1405 (c1385) G. Chaucer (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 1448 Ne neuere wol I be no loue ne wyf. ?a1425 (c1400) (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 103 Whan þei [sc. Amazons] wil haue ony companye of man..þan þei [have] here loues [?a1425 Egerton lemmans; Fr. amys] þat vsen hem. 1462 W. Barker in (2004) II. 277 He bydeth but a tyme þat he myght gete a summe of money to-geders..and to gon ther-with with a love of his soiornyng as yette in Hokehold. 1565 T. Cooper at Siue Wheather this be his wyfe, or his loue, great with childe she is by Pamphilus. 1602 W. Shakespeare iii. v. 73 To search for his wiues loue. 1613 S. Purchas 768 They haue one wife, many loues. 1636 H. Blount 14 Each Basha hath as many or like more Catamites, which are their serious loves; for their Wives are used..for reputation. the mind > emotion > love > a lover > [noun] > object on which love is centred 1734 A. Pope 180 The Lover, and the Love, of Human kind. 1754 Earl of Chatham (1804) iv. 28 Make yourself the love and admiration of the world. 1818 Ld. Byron clxx. 88 In the dust The fair-haired Daughter of the Isles is laid, The love of millions. 1887 W. Carleton 94 He vaulted 'mongst the nation's honored sons; He was the love of all the living ones. 1968 L. Blanch xii. 168 His last link with Princess Eliza Vorontzova who had been the love of his youth, of his life, it was said. 1976 D. Francis vi. 679 He'd missed weeks in the summer for his other love, which was sailing. 2000 N. Braybrooke in ‘I. English’ Pref. p. x His second love was sailing—but, there again, he felt he could never be a crack helmsman. the mind > emotion > love > quality of being lovable > [noun] > lovable person or creature 1814 J. Austen 23 Aug. (1995) 270 The Garden is quite a Love. 1831 Countess Granville 28 Feb. (1894) II. 91 A pretty, tiny daughter, whom my girls think a love. 1837 L. Hunt Blue-stocking Revels i, in (1844) 103 Such doves of Petitions, and loves of sweet Pray'rs. 1841 S. Warren II. 75 He's a love of a man, pa, isn't he? 1864 W. H. Ainsworth I. Prol. vi. 76 Nankin has the tiniest teacups you ever beheld—perfect loves! 1889 ‘R. Boldrewood’ xxiv What a love of a chain! 1936 ‘N. Blake’ xiii. 230 Ah, a dotey little love she was. 1970 19 May 32/1 ‘What a love of a place!’ exclaimed prospective bride Vicki Scrivner. 1972 A. Bennett ii. 36 Be a love, Geoff, and tell them a story. 2002 (Nexis) 17 Feb. 7 Winston, her bulldog, pads in from the next room... ‘Isn't he a cutie, isn't he a love?’ 7. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > personification of sexual affection c1325 in T. Wright (1842) xvi. 53 To love y putte pleyntes mo. a1350 in G. L. Brook (1968) 50 (MED) To Loue, þat leflich is in londe, y tolde him..hou þis hende haþ hent..on huerte þat myn wes. a1425 (c1385) G. Chaucer (1987) i. 353 For love bigan his fetheres so to lyme. R. Misyn tr. R. Rolle 102 Weil it is sayd in play: ‘luf gos before & ledis þe dawns.’ 1566 W. Painter I. xxxvii. f. 86v Notwithstanding dame Loue is so fauourable vnto me. 1598 W. Shakespeare iv. iii. 356 Forerunne faire Loue, strewing her way with flowers. View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton iv. 763 Here Love his golden shafts imploies, here lights His constant Lamp, and waves his purple wings. View more context for this quotation 1697 D. Baker i. 5 Cruel Love..makes thy faithless Vows serve for a StoneTo whet his bloody Darts upon. 1720 D. Manley iv. 230 Love..had long owed him a Revenge for slighting and speaking irreverently of his Power. 1770 F. Gentleman v. i. 64 There is but one, one only pow'r, Almighty love, who could such tribute claim. 1805 W. Scott iii. ii. 66 In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed; In war, he mounts the warrior's steed. 1859 E. FitzGerald tr. lxxiii. 16 Ah Love! could thou and I with Fate conspire. 1889 W. Allingham 7 Who could say that Love is blind? Piercing-sighted, he will find A thousand subtle charms that lie Hid from every common eye. 1913 E. Ferber x. 263 There shall be no running breathless, flushed, eager-eyed, to the very gateway of Love's garden. 1952 38 622 Death, using Love's arrows, causes tottering gammers and gaffers to become youthfully enamoured of each other. 2001 A. Shakar 153 Then the chip in my left brain crunched all the data,..and I told him, ‘Awake: Love is calling you’. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > god or goddess of love 1595 E. Spenser Amoretti xvi, in sig. Bv Legions of loues with little wings did fly. 1608 B. Jonson ii. 12 A world of little Loues, and chast Desires, Do light their [sc. the Muses'] beauties, with still mouing fires. a1667 A. Cowley Verses Several Occasions 14 in (1668) All around The little Loves that waited by, Bow'd, and blest the Augurie. 1734 J. Swift Strephon & Cloe in 10 The smiling Cyprian Goddess brings Her infant Loves with purple Wings. ?1793 S. T. Coleridge 49 A thousand Loves around her forehead fly; A thousand Loves sit melting in her eye. a1839 W. M. Praed (1864) II. 63 Where'er her step in beauty moves, Around her fly a thousand loves. 1866 A. C. Swinburne Sapphics in 206 The Loves thronged sadly with hidden faces Round Aphrodite. a1891 A. Pike (1900) 52 Let all the Loves Fly round thy chariot, with sweet, low songs Murmuring upon their lips. 1928 E. Strong II. xii. 40 The little loves riding on panthers and donkeys..are examples of that art of cælatura which aroused the enthusiasm of Pliny. 1966 29 441 A great company of winged loves fly after her [sc. Venus]. 1998 26 253 In The Haddington Masque a month later, little Loves escort Cupid as his torchbearers. II. Senses relating to games of skill or chance. society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > other games of chance > [noun] 1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius 297/2 Micare digitis,..iouer à l'amour,..a play vsed in Italy,..it is called there, & in France and Spaine, the play of loue. 1611 R. Cotgrave Mourre, the play of loue. 1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais xxii. 94 There he played..At love [Fr. a la mourre]. 1725 N. Bailey tr. Erasmus 205 The Countrymens Play of holding up our Fingers (dimicatione digitorum, i.e. the Play of Love). 9. society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > [noun] > draw or tie society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > [noun] > gaining points > score > unit in > specific 1742 E. Hoyle i. 13 If your Adversary is 6 or 7 Love, and you are to lead. 1780 50 322/2 We are not told how, or by what means Six love comes to mean Six to nothing. 1797 XVIII. 380/2 As the games are won, so they are marked and called; as one game love, two games to one, &c. 1816 (1901) 7 151 Mr Cashell was eight to love of the first game. 1885 2 Mar. 10/2 In the Rugby game Northampton beat Coventry by a try to love. 1898 Earl of Suffolk et al. 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. 1906 W. Dalton ii. 53 When you hold six or more cards of a black suit, thoroughly established, and one other card of entry, No Trumps should always be declared at the score of love. 1929 M. C. Work p. xv Any advice given for bidding, raising, etc., applies when the score is ‘love-all’. 1974 20 Sept. iii. 1/1 When you get beat six games to love, it's called ‘The Bagel’. 1995 S. E. Grace in M. Lowry I. 624 ‘Love fifteen’ and ‘advantage out’ are scoring terms in tennis. 1880 12 Aug. 198/2 A server may be deadly if his service comes off on the first try; and if it does so for a few strokes, he wins his game nearly to ‘love’. 1925 11 July 73/1 Mr. Jacob..lost the third set to love after winning a long second. 1996 26 June 68/3 Serving for the first set he was broken disastrously to love. 2013 M. Lawson viii. 257 Tom takes the first set to love. society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > card game > euchre > [noun] > variety of 1886 41 Slam, Love, or Skunk. III. Other uses. the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > parts of clothing > [noun] > trimmings or ornamentation > border or edging the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > made from silk > [noun] > types of > thin or light weight > for other uses 1613 XLVII. 359 Tua elnis callit luf at aucht s. the elne. 1666 in W. M. Myddelton 8 Jan. (1908) I. 140 1 pinner 2s 6d, 1 crape hood 3s 6d, 2 peeces of love 6d. 1751 London Daily Advertiser 21 Dec. in 1st Ser. 10 206 A black velvet cloak with a love coarsely run round it. 1825 M. M. Sherwood (ed. 2) II. x. 178 He was dressed in white, having a sash of black love. 12. the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > shrubs > climbing, trailing, or creeping shrubs > [noun] > clematis or traveller's joy 1640 J. Parkinson 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 i. xv. 95 Bees gather of these flowers following..In July..Love. the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Polygalaceae (milkwort and allies) > [noun] 1874 J. Lindley & T. Moore Suppl. Love, a name used in Tasmania for Comesperma volubile. 1894 J. K. Arthur 26 Among Australian flowering plants, ‘Love’ is the pet name bestowed on a most beautiful little creeper bearing flowers of a lovely blue. 1942 C. Barrett 45 The stems twist spirally and it is difficult to separate the love creeper from its supporting plant without breaking or cutting them. 1947 A. H. Garnsey 88 Tangled masses of the blue creeper known as ‘love’. 2004 (Nexis) 9 Nov. 42 They uncovered several notable native plants that had been growing timidly in the shade of the dominant weeds including..love creeper. Phrases P1. In prepositional phrases, chiefly with for. a. In asseverations and imprecations. the world > action or operation > advantage > [phrase] > for the sake of the mind > language > speech > request > [phrase] > earnest expressions eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius (Otho) xxii. 51 Ic wille [þe oðewan] forlustlice for ðinum lufum [L. tui causa libenter]. OE 23 Eal þis he þrowode for ure lufan & hælo. a1225 (c1200) (1888) 7 (MED) I bidde and warni, for ðe luue of gode and for ȝuer lieue saule, þat ȝie hatien..ðes awerȝhede senne. a1400 (a1325) (Vesp.) l. 14683 (MED) For þin dedes gode..We wil noght stan þe..Bot for þine werkes gain þe lau And for þe luue o þi missau. a1470 T. Malory (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 891 We shall destroy all the knyghtes of kyng Arthurs..for the love of sir Galahad. c1480 (a1400) St. Placidus 163 in W. M. Metcalfe (1896) II. 74 Sa hyme, for þe luf of me, þat in my nam he baptis þe. 1548 f. lxii Required the Englishe lordes for the loue of God that the truce might continue. 1589 J. Jane in R. Hakluyt iii. 790 The Sauages came to the Island..and tore the two vpper strakes, and caried them away onely for the loue of the iron in the boords. 1598 W. Shakespeare v. ii. 826 Impose some seruice on me for thy Loue. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) ii. iii. 82 For the loue o'God peace. View more context for this quotation 1661 W. Ames 12 Let none have occasion to say, that for the love of your goods, your liberty or your lives, any of you have forsaken the way of truth. 1710 J. Swift 8 Dec. (1948) I. 115 I begged Mr. Harley for the love of God to take some care about it. 1786 S. Henley tr. W. Beckford 96 For the love of Mahomet, my dear Fakreddin, have done! 1859 Ld. Tennyson Vivien in 115 A Table Round, That was to be, for love of God and man And noble deeds, the flower of all the world. 1882 Feb. 488/1 For the love of heaven do something for me or I'll die, so I will. 1913 J. London 69 For the love of your mother, hold your say, man. 1941 E. Linklater iii. 41 Can you not see that bloody machine-gun there? And for the love of God put your sights up. 1960 G. Durrell (1965) viii. 173 Don't, for the love of Allah, let her get into the china department. 1999 D. Mitchell 340 ‘Oh for the love of God you two,’ muttered John. the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > oaths other than religious or obscene 1896 A. C. Ray xii. 207 He sank back on the couch, remarking slowly to himself,— ‘Oh, for the love of Mike!’ 1901 S. Crane in Jan. 77/2 ‘For the love of Mike, madam, what ails you?’ he spluttered. 1909 21 Dec. For the love of Mike, man, haven't you got a heart? 1922 J. Joyce iii. xviii. [Penelope] 727 O move over your big carcass out of that for the love of Mike listen to him. 1925 T. Dreiser I. i. ix. 57 For de love o' Mike, will you listen to dat, now. 1934 J. Brophy i. 14 For the love of mike..shut those blasted windows. 1941 8 91 Well, for the luvva Mike! 1942 3 Oct. 11 Tired? Well for the love of mike! What about me? 1957 A. MacNab xv. 181 For the love of Mike, let's hope he's brave. 1999 J. Burchill xii. 181 ‘Why wasn't she wearing any fucking clothes!’ I scream at the top of my voice. ‘Because she was under a waterfall, for the love of Mike—’. the mind > language > speech > request > [phrase] > earnest expressions a1400 (a1325) (Trin. Cambr.) l. 20380 Whi wepestou, what is þe? For alle loues [a1400 Vesp. For felaured, a1400 Gött. For felauschip] telle now me. c1450 (c1400) (1881) 1587 (MED) Sir, for alle loues, Lete me thy prisoneres seen! 1565 T. Cooper Amabo..Of felowshippe: of all loues: I pray the: as euer thou wilte doe me good turne. 1600 W. Shakespeare ii. ii. 160 Speake, of all loues. I swoune almost with feare. View more context for this quotation 1618 J. Ussher Let. in R. Parr (1686) Coll. xxxiii. 64 I do intreat you of all Love, to look over the first Edition. 1624 R. Montagu 185 She..intreateth him that was worshipped vpon the Altar, of all loves, mercies, and works of wonder, to restore her vnto her health. a1627 T. Middleton (1630) iii. 31 O sweet Father, for Loues sake pittie me. c1646 in (1874) 87/1 [10l.] which I desire you of all love to pay upon sight of this my letter. 1655 J. S. tr. B. della Rovere iii. iv. 63 For loves sake, doe not press me to relate So long a story now. 1748 S. Richardson IV. li. 257 For your own honour's sake, as well as for love's sake, join with me. 1793 C. Smith IV. viii. 196 Madam..begged him of all love to leave the country for fear of accidents. 1829 W. Whewell in J. M. Douglas (1881) 133 Beg her of all love to establish herself in a more collegiate part of Cambridge. 1871 E. S. P. Ward iv. 86 Here a minute, for love's sake, Catty. 1906 B. Carman 51 Gentle spirit, grieve not so, for love's sake! 1925 A. Lowell 132 Christine clung to him with sobbing cries, Pleading for love's sake that he leave her not. 1973 P. O'Brian iv. 62 Am I in childbed, for all love, that I should be plagued, smothered, destroyed with caudle? 1992 (Nexis) 8 Sept. d8 Buckle up, for love's sake! ?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives i. xvi. sig. T. ij They that marie for loue, shall leade their lyfe in sorowe. 1791 J. Boswell anno 1776 II. 45 [Johnson] It is commonly a weak man who marries for love. 1868 14 Mar. 340/2 It is only the old-fashioned sort, not girls of the period pur sang, that marry for love. 1946 G. Hopkins tr. F. Mauriac ix. 100 The dead woman was still in his eyes a heroine who might have died for love but would never have been false to her plighted word. 2005 6 Oct. 43/2 Lavransdatter′s..plot might be summarized as the story of a Daddy's girl who refuses Daddy's choice of a husband and marries for love. the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > impossibility > [adverb] > by no means OE 43 Ne wandige na se mæssepreost..ne for feo, ne for nanes mannes lufon. c1400 (c1378) W. Langland (Laud 581) (1869) B. i. 101 And neuer leue hem for loue ne for lacchyng of syluer. a1450 (?a1300) Richard Coer de Lyon (Caius) l. 1484 in K. Brunner (1913) 159 Neyþer ffor loue, neyther ffor eye.] ?1576 A. Hall sig. G.iii My Lords Balife wil haue carts for loue or money. 1590 C. S. 18 Then should not men eyther for loue or money haue pardons. 1609 T. Dekker sig. E3v If you can (either for loue or money) prouide your selfe a lodging by the water side. 1691 T. Shadwell ii. i. 11 This lewd Cozen of ours..has had all the women in Town that are to be had for Love or Money. 1712 J. Swift 7 Aug. (1948) II. 553 No more Ghosts or Murders now for Love or Money. 1751 T. Smollett II. lxxxvi. 251 I'll be revenged of you, if there be a man to be had for love or money. 1837 F. Palgrave (1844) i. 18 Any person who, for love or money, might be induced to take the letter in his charge. 1869 F. A. March Pref. iv He let me..use..Anglo-Saxon texts not elsewhere to be had for love or money. 1928 30 Aug. 8/4 It appears to be impossible to get a hold of a useful rabbit-chasing ferret, for love or money. 1966 H. Davies (1967) 93 Gigolos are unobtainable in London for love or money, but unemployed actors and male models may be had by the desperate. 1997 C. B. Divakaruni 248 You couldn't buy them from a dealer, not for love or money. society > leisure > entertainment > mere amusement > [adverb] 1678 S. Butler iii. i. 58 For these, at Beast, and L'hombre, [you] wooe, And play for Love, and Money too. 1813 41 296 A match of..single-stick, was played..for what is technically termed Love and a Belly-full. 1823 C. Lamb New Year's Eve in 63 I play over again for love, as the gamesters phrase it, games, for which I once paid so dear. 1843 C. Dickens (1844) xxxii. 383 Mrs. Todgers..proposed that..they should play for ‘love’. 1879 H. C. Merivale i. 4 Points be bothered, I plays for love. 1930 22 Oct. 8/3 She would be surprised to know that those games [sc. poker and twenty-one] were played for love. 1958 G. Greene (1962) 154 He really does all this for love. You see, I saved his life once. a1969 J. Kerouac (1992) 12 Jack Kerouac didn't write this book for money, he wrote it for love, he gave it away to the world. 2007 (Nexis) 30 Jan. 7 They were disappointed they were only playing ‘for love’ because scores wouldn't be officially registered. P2. In prepositional phrases with in, into, out of. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > be in love [verb (intransitive)] > fall in love OE tr. (1958) i. 2 Þa ða se fæder þohte hwam he hi mihte healicost forgifan, þa gefeol his agen mod on hyre lufe mid unrihtre gewilnunge [L. pater..incidit in amorem filiae suae]. c1500 (?a1437) (1939) xlv So ferr ifallyng into lufis dance. ?1515 (de Worde) sig. A.v Than in to loues daunce we were brought. c1515 Ld. Berners tr. (1882–7) xlviii. 162 He was taken in loue. 1530 J. Palsgrave 544/2 I shall fall in love with her. 1569 R. Grafton I. iv. 37 Locryne fell in great phancy and loue with a faire Damosell. 1580 J. Lyly (new ed.) f. 63v Of which water who so drinketh shall be caught in loue. 1596 E. Spenser iv. vi. Argum. sig. E8v He sees her face; doth fall in loue, and soone from her depart. 1606 G. W. tr. Justinus xliii. 134 With the pleasantnesse of which, they were so taken in loue, that [etc.]. 1675 J. Bunyan 171 Can you behold a Crucified Christ and not Bleed, and not Mourn, and not fall in Love with him? 1724 M. Davys 165 You are the first Woman under Thirty that ever fell in love with a grey Beard. 1768 F. Burney (1988) I. 25 A young lady of fashion..has fallen in love with my cousin. 1785 E. Inchbald i. ii. 11 You are a fellow that falls in love with every face you see. 1833 T. S. Fay II. 7 The most wretchedly romantic youth that ever fell in love..and turned his face moonwards. 1887 H. R. Haggard iv. 31 John Niel was no chicken, nor very likely to fall in love with the first pretty face he met. 1928 21 Feb. 9/2 There is a suggestion that he has fallen in love with a ‘shiksa’ (a Christian girl). 1969 E. Cleaver 23 I fell in love with the Black Panther Party immediately upon my first encounter with it. 1999 S. Orbach (2000) 170 She feared that Charles and Maria would really hit if off; they would fall in love again, want to keep the baby, shut her out. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [adjective] a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus (BL Add.) f. 146v Whanne þe swan is in loue, sche secheþ the female and plesiþ hire wiþ byclippinge of þe necke. ?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in (1998) I. 46 He is for ladyis in luf a right lusty schadow. 1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach i. f. 5 He would talke..of the stories of the Scripture, so sweetely..as I was woonderfully in loue with him. 1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo (1586) iii. 140 A woman cannot possibly doe any thing yt may make her husband more in love with her, then to play the good huswife. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) ii. i. 76 I was in loue with my bed. View more context for this quotation 1664 S. Butler ii. i. 20 Quoth she, Y' have almost made m' in love With that, which did my pitty move. 1690 J. Locke iv. xvii. 347 He that believes, without having any Reason for believing, may be in love with his own Fansies. 1728 J. Gay i. x. 15 What, is the fool in love in earnest then? 1797 M. Robinson III. xlviii. 19 She is in love with you, my noble fellow. 1828 T. B. Macaulay Hallam's Constit. Hist. in Sept. 113 Its conduct, we are told, made the excellent Falkland in love with the very name of parliament. 1881 L. B. Walford xvii. 213 He was not himself in love. 1896 A. E. Housman xviii. 25 Oh, when I was in love with you, Then I was clean and brave. 1911 M. Beerbohm iii. 28 Her soul was as a flower in its opetide. She was in love. 1941 P. Hamilton ii. i. 52 He was head over heels in love with her as soon as he had a moment to be near her. 1969 J. McPhee 10 He is in love with his work. He knows the exact height and tensile strength of the corporate ladder. 1996 18 Apr. 80/1 They trudge dutifully through the tacky clichés of legal eagles in love. the mind > emotion > hatred > loathing or detestation > [adjective] 1577 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin xli. f. 292 Thou bee so farre out of loue with thy sonne [Fr. tu es si desbordé contre ton fils], that thou art vnwylling too see him. 1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo (1586) i. 10 Hee seemeth either too farre in loue with himselfe, or to farre out of loue with others. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iv. iv. 202 I should haue scratch'd out your vnseeing eyes, To make my Master out of loue with thee. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iii. i. 173 I am so out of loue with life. View more context for this quotation 1680 E. Fowler ii. vii. 80 Atonement is..a most effectual means, to this farther End, the making us out of love with Sin. 1722 D. Defoe i. i. 5 What's the matter, that you are so out of love with the World all on a sudden? 1753 S. Richardson III. xi. 83 Lord W.'s animosity to my father made him out of love with his name. 1796 S. Lee iv. i. 52 I, like thee, Grow out of love with reason. 1814 M. Edgeworth I. ix. 278 Bellamy tells me the strangest story of her having been, since I left London, in love and out of love with John Falconer. 1867 A. Cary x. 192 Perhaps every man who is out of love thinks pretty much after this fashion of his friend who is in love. 1890 J. Todhunter i. 8 Hope shuns me: I am out of love with life. 1914 B. Carman 72 Whatever can have come his way To put him out of love to-day? 1955 R. Campbell in E. W. Tedlock (1960) i. 45 He was never out of love with his beautiful wife and muse, Caitlin. 1992 A. V. Roberts xvi. 282 In and out of love with amazing regularity and unflagging enthusiasm, Polly was passionate about most things. 1596 J. Harington sig. Ciiijv (I heard of a truth, that a great Lady that loued Parsnips very well, after she had heard how they grew, could neuer abide them) and I would be loath, to cause any to fall out of loue with so good a dish. a1653 H. Binning Serm. in (1735) 284/2 God never begins to be pleasant and lovely to a Soul, til it begins to fall out of Love with itself, and grow lothsome in its own Eyes. 1701 R. Calder 38 The belief of the Resurrection will teach us to fall out of Love with the World,..there is nothing in it but Vanity and Miserie. 1856 5 July 34/2 No man falls out of love so safely as a man who falls in love with a beauty. 1877 July 530/1 He was always falling in love with any pretty face that struck his fancy, and then just as easily falling out of love with an unwounded heart. 1915 17 601 Despite our ingenuity, we do grow up, we grow old, we fall in love, we fall out of love. 2002 11 Feb. i. 13/2 There are signs that voters have fallen out of love with the party. the mind > emotion > love > loved one > [adjective] 1631 J. Weever 417 He also departed this world, in the loue of all good men. a1635 R. Sibbes (1638) iii. 54 I know I am in the love of Christ: these are favours that hee bestowes onely upon his owne. 1647 S. Richardson Ep. Ded., sig. )(3 The people of God are in the love of God. 1664 W. Smith 28 We are in the love of God, and have fervent love to him, and one another. P3. With to make. a. to make love [after Old Occitan far amor (13th cent.), Middle French, French faire l'amour (16th cent.; 1622 with reference to sexual intercourse), or Italian far l'amore] . the mind > emotion > love > courtship or wooing > court or engage in courtship [verb (intransitive)] 1567 G. Fenton tr. M. Bandello f. 155v The attire of a Cortisan, or woman makynge loue [Fr. femme qui fait l'Amour]. 1580 J. Lyly (new ed.) f. 34v A Phrase nowe there is which belongeth to your Shoppe boorde, that is to make loue. 1600 W. Shakespeare i. i. 107 Demetrius..Made loue to Nedars daughter. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) v. ii. 58 Why man, they did make loue to this imployment. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iii. i. 125 Thence it is, That I to your assistance doe make loue. View more context for this quotation 1663 A. Cowley ii Thou golden Shower of a true Jove! Who does in thee descend, and Heav'n to Earth make love! 1695 W. Congreve iv. i. 70 Nay, Mr. Tattle, If you make Love to me, you spoil my design, for I intended to make you my Confident. 1712 J. Addison No. 517. ¶2 The Widow Lady whom he had made Love to. 1768 L. Sterne I. 79 You have been making love to me all this while. 1784 R. Bage II. 318 You..may make love, and play your pitty patties. 1829 W. Cobbett iv. §181 It is an old saying, ‘Praise the child, and you make love to the mother’. a1845 T. Hood (1846) I. 213 Oh there's nothing in life like making love. 1860 9 306 How often..do we make love to the charms of cousins and avuncular expectations. 1887 W. Besant xiv. 112 He would crack the crown of any man who ventured to make love to his girl. 1906 H. Green 209 I thought I'd die laughing at his making love..and me with a husband doing his bit back in Auburn. 1927 L. Mayer vii. 43 Honestly those nobilities can make love divinely. 1948 W. S. Maugham (1958) ii. 18 Her lover Diego no longer came to the window at night to make love to her through the iron grille. 1972 B. Everitt v. 38 ‘Are we conversing or making love?’.. ‘Let's go into the slow lane for a minute.’ 1991 S. Cisneros 153 Ay! To make love in Spanish, in a manner as intricate and devout as la Alhambra. the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity [verb (intransitive)] > have sexual intercourse the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity with [verb (transitive)] > have sexual intercourse with 1927 J. S. Bolan Deposition in L. Schlissel (1997) 218 Jimmy embraces Margie LaMont and goes through with her the business of making love to her by lying on top of her on a couch, each embracing the other. 1929 E. Hemingway xviii. 114 Besides all the big times we had many small ways of making love and we tried putting thoughts in the other one's head while we were in different rooms. 1934 ‘G. Orwell’ iv. 54 Why is master always so angry with me when he has made love to me? 1950 M. Peake xxix. 173 One of the Carvers made love to her and she had a baby. 1967 B. Wright tr. R. Queneau xiv. 151 When you make love on a bunk,..the man has to bump his head. 1971 15 Jan. 17/1 Couples who make love frequently are more likely to have sons than those who do so less often. 1986 D. Johnson (1987) i. 17 Making love with him was like passing through a patch of fog. 1999 T. Parsons (2000) ii. 19 We were making love on the floor—or the futon, as Gina called it. 1965 12 Mar. 19/1 You've seen those bumper stickers... And the latest in Berkeley, protesting Viet Nam, simply say ‘Make Love—Not War.’ 1966 2 Sept. 12/2 They intend to distribute badges stating ‘Make Love, not War’—a slogan used by C.N.D. 1970 14 Aug. b1/1 People [at Woodstock] got together.., shared food, water and dope, enjoyed music and conversation and made love, not war. 1982 27 Jan. 8/7 Dr Comfort..believes that it [sc. recreational sex] may drain away aggression, as in the hippy slogan ‘Make Love Not War’. 2005 M. O'Connor xx. 158 All those big houses in the subdivisions are filled with former hippies who said Make Love Not War and Never Trust Anyone over Thirty. 2007 (Nexis) 24 Mar. (Sport section) 10 Football is one of the few areas of national life where Arabs and Jews happily work and play together... ‘It shows people that we should make love and not war.’ the mind > emotion > love > with love from [phrase] the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > courtesy > courteous act or expression > courteous formulae [phrase] > expressions of remembrance 1615 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher iv. i. sig. I4 As you finde him setled, remember my loue and seruice to his Grace. 1618 T. Sherwin Let. in S. Purchas (1625) III. viii. 733 Remember my loue to all at Faire-hauen. 1630 J. Winthrop (1825) (modernized text) I. 378 Commend me to all our friends. My love and blessing to your brother and sisters [etc.]. 1635 in B. Cusack (1998) 247 With Mr Gorges loue and myen to my daughter and your selfe. 1665 Earl of Marlborough 3 I beseech you commend my love to all mine acquaintance. 1684 in B. Cusack (1998) 220 May lowf to yow and Robert Goodien. 1742 20 Give my dear Love to my dear Band Brethren. 1765 W. Cowper 14 Aug. (1979) I. 111 My Love to all your Family. 1773 J. Wesley 7 Oct. (1931) VI. 49 My wife sends her love; she has her old companion the gout. 1785 Lady Newdigate Let. May in A. E. Newdigate-Newdegate (1898) iv. 67 Love from all here Adieu. 1793 W. Cowper 24 Feb. (1984) IV. 298 With Mary's kind love. 1819 R. Southey (1856) III. 3 Love from all to all, and kisses as many as you please to give to the kissable part of the family. 1836 C. Dickens (1837) ix. 89 Love to Tuppy. 1854 W. Collins (1861) 183 ‘I will write and comfort your mother this very afternoon ——’ ‘Give her my love’, interposed Zack. 1875 ‘M. Twain’ 23 Nov. (1917) I. xv. 268 We-all send love to you-all. 1911 W. Owen 20 Sept. (1967) 83 Love to Mary and me brethren twain. 1921 A. Huxley 21 Nov. (1969) 205 I will telephone or write about both these dates. Love from Aldous. 1949 D. Smith (U.K. ed.) xi. 188 Dear Cassandra, it was nice of you to write... Love from Neil. 1970 T. Southern iii. iv. 151 ‘Hans sends his love,’ Angela was saying, across the candlelit dining table. 2004 (Nexis) 11 Aug. 31 Give my love to Daddy if you see him. OE Ælfric (Royal) (1997) ix. 252 Ærest he him ondræt hellewite & bewepð his synna syððan he nimð eft lufe to gode: þonne onginð he to murcnienne & þincð him to lang hwænne he beo genumen of þyses lifes earfoðnyssum, & gebroht to ecere reste. OE tr. Vitas Patrum in B. Assmann (1889) 197 Ða gelicode him sona ðurh deofles tihtince þæs hæþenan sacerdos dohtor. Began þa niman swyðe micle lufe to hyre and to hyre fæder gewænde and hy him to gemæccan gyrnde. c1440 S. Scrope tr. C. de Pisan (St. John's Cambr.) (1970) 66 Meede..took so greete loue to Jason that be þe enchauntementis þat sche couthe..made charmes & lerned Jason to enchaunte. 1694 N. H. 48/1 Another Dolphin, in the same manner, took love to a Child upon the Sea coast near to Pusoll. P6. Proverbial uses. a. c1405 (c1395) G. Chaucer (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 354 For loue is blynd alday and may nat see. 1600 W. Shakespeare ii. vi. 36 Loue is blinde . View more context for this quotation 1661 J. Glanvill xiii. 119 And, that Love is blind, is extensible beyond the object of Poetry. 1746 A. Arbuthnot 110 No, no, said Jenny; though Love is blind, I never heard that he was deaf. 1848 E. Bennett xi. 94 Love is blind, says the old proverb. 1898 J. D. Brayshaw 35 They say as luv is blind. 1965 J. M. Brewer 166 I don't make love by the garden gate, For love is blind, but the neighbors ain't. 2000 J. J. Connolly (2004) 62 Aha, makes sense to you but love is blind, my friend. 1578 J. Lyly f. 31v Anye impietie may lawfully be committed in loue, which is lawlesse.] 1620 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes xxi. 138 Loue and warre are all one [Sp. el amor y la guerra son vna misma cosa]: and as in warre it is lawful to vse sleights and stratagems to ouercome the enemy: So in amorous strifes and competencies, Impostures and iuggling tricks are held for good, to attaine to the wished end. 1717 W. Taverner (new ed.) ii. 38 All advantages are fair in Love and War. 1789 I. xvi. 140 Tho' this was a confounded lie, my friend, ‘all is fair in love and war’. 1845 G. P. R. James I. iv. 95 In love and war, every stratagem is fair, they say. 1850 F. E. Smedley xlix. 434 All's fair in love and war, you know. 1905 9 June 2/5 New Yorker so busy wooing he forgot he had no funds. ‘All is fair in love and war,’ holds good in fiction, but not in the eyes of the police. 1979 ‘J. Gash’ v. 45 All's fair in love, war and antiques. 2005 Aug. 218/1 All's fair in love and war, so flick the trip switch in the fuse box. Without electricity, he's forced to surrender his console and get back to basics. 1474 W. Caxton tr. (1883) iii. iii. 97 Herof men saye a comyn prouerbe in england, that loue lasteth as longe as the money endureth. a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Cock & Fox l. 512 in (1981) 23 The prouerb sayis, ‘Als gude lufe cummis as gais.’ a1513 R. Fabyan (1516) I. cxv. f. liii Hote Loue is soone colde. 1573 J. Sanford tr. L. Guicciardini f. 98v Foure things cannot be kept close, Loue, the cough, fyre, and sorrowe. 1584 R. Greene sig. B.ivv Loue doth much but money doth all. 1611 R. Cotgrave at Amour Loue, and the Cough cannot be hidden. a1618 W. Raleigh (1664) 35 Love needs no teaching. 1678 J. Ray (ed. 2) 55 Love ne're delights in a sorrowful man. 1732 T. Fuller 140 Love and Pride stock Bedlam. 1777 C. Dibdin i. viii. 16 According unto the proverb, love maketh a wit of the fool. 1863 ‘G. Eliot’ I. i. i. 102 If there are two things not to be hidden—love and a cough—I say there is a third, and that is ignorance. 1881 14 Apr. 1/4 It is said that love conquers all things. 1941 A. Kreymborg Introd. 4 ‘The path of true love never runs smooth’ in the drama. 1994 R. Davies 458 Love and a cough cannot be hid. 2007 (Nexis) 8 Mar. 1 Many people say ‘love conquers all’ but that's not always true. P7. there's no love lost between them (also us, etc.). the mind > emotion > love > with love from [phrase] > of mutual affection the mind > emotion > hatred > on account of enmity to [phrase] > they hate one another 1600 B. Jonson ii. i. sig. E.ii Car... Hee loues you well Signior. Sog. There shall be no loue lost Sir. View more context for this quotation c1640 R. Davenport Surv. Sci. in (1890) 327 Oh my sweete! Sure there is no loue lost when you two meete. 1696 W. Bates (1699) 8 Dr. Busby..took a particular Kindness to him,..and there was no Love lost betwixt them. 1706 P. Motteux (1749) III. 266 I love him well, and there's no love lost between us. 1749 T. Smollett tr. A. R. Le Sage III. ix. vii. 229 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 O. Goldsmith iv. 77 As for murmurs, mother, we grumble a little now and then, to be sure. But there's no love lost between us. 1824 N. Drake II. 54 Give me your hand..and let me tell you..there is no love lost between us. 1828 C. Lamb New Year's Coming of Age in 2nd Ser. 8 There was no love lost for that matter. 1839 S. Lover ii. i. 17 I'm obleeged to you, Misther Bowlt; and in throth there's no love lost between us, for I respect you, and always did. ?1622 J. Taylor Trav. Twelve-pence in (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. 1751 S. Richardson (ed. 3) III. xxv. 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. 1797 I. xlii. 217 I do not like him at all, and I believe there is no love lost between us. 1858 W. M. Thackeray I. xvii. 134 There was not a great deal of love lost between Will and his half-sister. 1866 W. D. Howells 121 Americans do not like these people and I believe there is no love lost on the other side. 1889 T. A. Trollope III. 91 Between Italian and French radicals there is really no love lost. 1916 J. Buchan xiii. 203 Once or twice he ran counter to Moellendorff, and I could see there was no love lost between these two. 1956 J. Lister xvi. 273 There was no love lost between the seamen and soldiers of the mother country and the colonists, and the sooner the expedition moved on, the happier everyone would be. 1997 ‘Q’ 54 There was no love lost between the two of us. We'd never got on. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > love at first sight a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer (Pierpont Morgan) (1881) ii. l. 668 How myght it be That she so lyghtly louede Troylus Right for þe firste syght. a1593 C. Marlowe (1598) i. 175 Where both deliberat, the loue is slight, Who euer lov'd, that lov'd not at first sight?] 1664 T. Killigrew (title) The princesse: or, Love at first sight. 1753 S. Richardson IV. xviii. 144 Love at first sight, answered Sir Charles, must indicate a mind prepared for impression, and a sudden gust of passion. 1797 T. Holcroft V. vi. 70 Why this seems like love at first sight! 1822 W. Hazlitt 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. 1839 C. Brontë Let. 4 Aug. in E. C. Gaskell (1857) I. viii. 199 Well! thought I, I have heard of love at first sight, but this beats all! 1868 W. Collins I. i. vii. 91 You have heard of beautiful young ladies falling in love at first sight, and have thought it natural enough. 1952 18 273 We know that what we have here is no drama of romantic love-at-first-sight. 1961 C. McCullers iv. 89 In early youth, love at first sight, that epitome of passion, turns you into a zombie. 1975 D. Bagley xvi. 138 Don't you believe in love at first sight? 2005 12 Feb. (Life section) 4/4 Phenylethylamine (PEA): A neurotransmitter which often causes the lover's ‘high’ many interpret as love at first sight. the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [noun] > romantic attachment between boy and girl 1819 24 Sept. 1/1 A concert, selected from the Scotch and Irish Melodies... Song, ‘Love's young Dream’. 1821 T. Moore Love's Young Dream in i. 77 But there's nothing half so sweet in life, As love's young dream! 1898 J. K. Jerome 155 The stout lady, now regarded as a would-be blighter of love's young dream, was hustled into the back seat. 1920 J. Galsworthy i. 33 I don't mean any tosh about love's young dream; but I do like being friends. 1937 D. L. Sayers xv. 307 There now!.. If there ain't love's young dream a-comin' up the path. 1960 B. Kops 54 Look at them, love's young dream. 1974 P. G. Wodehouse iii. 20 I was helping a pal to celebrate the happy conclusion of love's young dream, and it may be that I became a mite polluted. 2001 J. Paisley 54 Noo I hink we shouldnae make nae mair noise an disturb love's young dream up aheid. society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > a marriage > [noun] > viewed as more or less advantageous > marriage with insufficient means 1745 C. Coffey i. vi. 34 Love in a Cottage contentedly flows, And e'ery dear Minute is blest. 1763 G. Colman i. 9 To talk of living on bread and water, and the comforts of love in a cottage. 1812 M. Edgeworth Absentee iv, in V. 302 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. 1878 Dec. 274/1 Young people tried love in a cottage, and dwelt in dove-cotes beside their prouder kinsfolk. 1894 H. H. Gardener 239 Here's more love in a cottage business for you. 1938 W. Empson i. 55 She had chosen love in a cottage and could stick to it. 1954 J. A. Banks viii. 116 George Vavasor, Phineas Finn, and Frank Greystock were not faced with the dilemma of love in a cottage versus luxury in the hall. 2006 (Nexis) 1 July 18 A choice between a triumphant return to high finance and love in a cottage. the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > meat dishes > [noun] > veal dishes 1705 J. S. x. 58 Love in Disguise, and how esteemed, and the Danger there is in it more than when it appears in its naked Form.] 1877 E. S. Dallas 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. 1937 5 June 16/5 ‘Love in Disguise’ concealed within it a stuffed sheep's heart—an eighteenth-century culinary jest. 1958 W. Bickel tr. R. Hering 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. 1995 (Nexis) 23 July vii. 14 British cuisine has always sounded entertaining. But, like love-in-disguise (which turns out to be baked, stuffed calf heart), what winds up on the plate can be harder to swallow. P12. the love that dare not speak its name and variants. 1894 A. Douglas Two Loves in Dec. 28 I am the love that dare not speak its name. 1895 O. Wilde in (1912) ii. xiii. 271 The ‘Love that dare not speak its name’ in this century is such a great affection of an elder for a younger man as there was between David and Jonathan... It is in this century..so much misunderstood that it may be described as the ‘Love that dare not speak its name’. 1895 M. Beerbohm Let. 3 May in (1964) 102 [Oscar's] speech about the Love that dares not tell his name was simply wonderful, and carried the whole court right away, quite a tremendous burst of applause. 1950 29 Jan. 6/1 Gide's second proposition, that civilization benefits by toleration of ‘the love that dares not speak its name.’ 1976 28 Oct. Their ‘loves’..were of the offbeat persuasion—you know, ‘the love that dare not speak its name’. 2001 (Nexis) 5 June 41 We know too little about plural marriage to say that it inevitably results in pain... What gives Utah the right to repress this love that dare not speak its name? 2002 H. M. Benshoff in M. Jancovich ii. vii. 99 The ‘love that dare not speak its name’ remains a shadowy Other which conversely works to bolster the equally constructed idea of a normative heterosexuality. 1977 27 May 2/8 Government ministers were privately ‘terribly fond of the arts’. Could that..be the sort of love that dare not speak its name? 1989 (Nexis) 13 Dec. (Sport section) 28 In an age of hooliganism..football enthusiasm became the love that dare not speak its name. 1994 (Nexis) 25 Sept. (Late Sports Final ed.) (Show section) 13 It's the love that dares not speak its name. No sane rocker would admit to loving the Carpenters. 2004 A. King i. i. 11 ‘Slumming’, whereby a culturally respectable reader takes pleasure in mass-market reading, was in the nineteenth-century a love that dare not speak its name. Compounds A selection of some of the more significant compounds is given here. C1. General attributive. 1820 P. B. Shelley i. i. 56 Dreaming like a love-adept. 1918 D. H. Lawrence 53 The delicate love-adept Can warm her hands and invite her soul. 1969 L. P. Hartley (title) The love-adept: a variation on a theme. 1612 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes iv. xxiv. 581 In Loue adventures [Sp. en los casos de amor] no one is accomplished with more facilitie, then that which is fauoured by the womans desire. 1653 T. Urquhart tr. F. Rabelais liv. 238 Here enter not, fond makers of demurres In love-adventures. 1710 Ld. Shaftesbury 114 In relation to common Amours and Love-Adventures. 1772 in G. Keate (1781) 172 These Indentures Now settle,—sign,—and seal all Love Adventures. 1821 C. Lamb in Jan. 5/2 It is better that I should have pined away..than that so passionate a love-adventure should be lost. 1900 W. C. Russell (title) Rose Island. The strange story of a love adventure at sea. 1965 C. N. Eze (title) Little John in the love adventure. 1897 18 471 The Temple of Glass..follows the rules of the fashionable Love-Allegory. 1933 R. Tuve iv. 189 All this is to be found in the love-allegory of the Golden Targe. 2003 98 p. xxxv Vogt..credits him [sc. Gottfried von Strassburg] with the creation of the secular love allegory. 1565 T. Cooper at Amor Componere amores..To make loue balades. a1654 A. Ross (1655) viii. 238 The Canticles was not Scripture, but a Love Ballade between Solomon and one of his Concubines. a1668 W. Davenant Distresses ii. i in (1673) iii. 42/1 He makes My love Ballads. The merry Madrigal For Maids, and the Vicious Virgin, were both his. 1876 Aug. 565/1 Such a poem as will puzzle the warblers of ‘love ballads’ to unravel. 2000 40 521 The rhythm is singsong, in the familiar pattern of love ballads. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iii. vii. 72 He is not lulling on a lewd Loue-Bed [1597 day bed]. 1642 S. Rutherford To Rdr. sig. a2 O that Christ would enlarge his Love bed. a1788 W. J. Mickle Siege of Marseilles in (1794) iv. iii. 308 Leave th' Adulterer in triumphant riot In your love bed, drunk with Erminia's charm's. 1874 A. C. Swinburne i. i. 41 I had rather the close moon and stars anight Lit me to love-bed. 1934 D. Thomas 19 Invisible, your clocking tides Break on the lovebeds of the weeds. a1963 S. Plath (1971) 33 Musky as a lovebed the morning after. a1350 in G. L. Brook (1968) 51 (MED) Suete Iesu..hou swete bueþ þi loue-bonde. c1400 (Bodl.) 50 Tak to þe þe swete childe and swetliche swaþ hit in his gradil wiþ swete loue bondes. 1595 W. Lisle tr. S. G. de Senlis in tr. G. de S. Du Bartas 23 The knot and loue-bond of nations [Fr. l'vnion et amitié des peuples], is so loosened and broke, that scarce is there founde any remedie for it. a1869 R. Leighton (1875) ii. ii. 69 I'll break this love-bond slowly, so that he May never know the breaking. 1951 L. MacNeice tr. J. W. von Goethe ii. v. 295 Rapture which yearns ever, Love-bond which burns ever. 2000 38 477/2 Discusses how human economics grows out of natural increase; the love bond and the meaning of zero. 1798 S. T. Coleridge Nightingale in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge 66 He were fearful, that an April night Would be too short for him to utter forth His love-chant, and disburthen his full soul Of all its music! 1884 24 Nov. 2/2 The young girl..sang..a seemingly plaintive love chant. 2001 (Nexis) 22 Sept. (Entertainm. section) c3 A series of mock meditations, yogic exercises and..tantric love chants. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > potion or drug used to promote love a1627 T. Middleton (1950) i. ii. 24 Thou com'st for a loue-charme now? 1708 P. Bayly I. 59 He sent to Market for a kind of Fish which they judg'd to be a sovereign Love-charm. 1821 W. Scott II. v. 133 They are spoken in a mad tale of fairies, love-charms, and I wot not what besides. 1948 B. G. M. Sundkler vi. 222 Various Native ‘Chemist’ shops sell..love-charms. 1994 Spring 110 Lucille made love charms from their petals to put in bath water. the world > animals > animal body > general parts > sexual organs and reproduction > [noun] > mating > mating dance c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer (Fairf. 16) (1878) l. 1235 Ther saugh I fames olde and yonge Pipers of alle Duche tonge To lerne loue Daunces sprynges Reus and these straunge thynges. 1712 J. White 58 How doth this still..confirm that Account before given of a Love Design or project, a mask of Love, a Love Dance? 1911 J. A. Thomson 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. 2001 1 May (Brisbane ed.) 3/2 Her exotic Indian love dance was described as ‘undancerly’ and unco-ordinated. 1629 J. Ford iv. 67 The Incense of my loue-desires, are flam'd Vpon an Altar of more constant proofe. 1657 J. Harington (ed. 3) 182 More then King my self I prize In this new-rays'd Love-desire. 1691 E. Taylor 359 Nature's Property should..become not a dark raging poisonful Hunger, but a Love desire. 1591 J. Harington in tr. L. Ariosto xxvii. 223 (note) It alludes to a like thing, written by Plutarch in his loue discourses. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) ii. iv. 125 I know you ioy not in a Loue-discourse . View more context for this quotation 1687 R. L'Estrange tr. A. de Castillo Solórzano in viii. 462 He entred into some Love Discourses with her. 1787 J. Cobb 23 A confab between Romeo and Juliet—a bit of love discourse, eh? a1864 J. Clare (1993) 125 The maids resumed their love discourse anew. 1990 55 99 In the Petrarchan love discourse molding the European poetic imagination of the Renaissance. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > tale or song of love > love-song a1586 Sir P. Sidney (1591) 35 In hir necke you did loue ditties peepe. 1694 N. H. at Singing A Fidler..gained a fortune..by procuring and humming over some Love ditties. a1711 T. Ken Christophil in (1721) I. 476 I..Who for Two thousand Years, or rather more, Have sung the like Love-ditties o're and o're. 1798 W. Jackson xxv. 358 That peculiarly fine melody appropriated to the hundredth psalm, was sung to a popular love-ditty. 1808 W. Scott i. vii. 29 And frame love ditties passing rare. 1890 E. S. Hartland (1891) i. 7 The women at their wheels; and while they spin they sing love ditties. 2005 7 Mar. 66/1 But the tunes are mere grains of sand, while the lyrics are abysmal, winsome little love ditties. c1390 Swete Ihesu Now (Vernon) l. 20 in C. Horstmann (1896) II. 10 Þou make in me þi loue-dreem [v.r. luf-drem].] 1602 T. Dekker 24 Dreame of her, loue-dreames are nere too deepe. 1794 T. Holcroft I. xvi. 218 Olivia in danger: love dreams: fanatic horrors. 1866 R. D. Blackmore (1881) xii. 48 A maiden with the love dream nestling beneath the bridal faldetta. 1932 N. Coward Younger Generation in B. Day (1998) 153/3 Though the world is well lost for love dreams There's wisdom above dreams To compensate mothers and wives. 2005 P. Clifford 307 Truly figured in the West's finest love dream is the narcissistic heaven dreamed of by the eternal children the lovers have succeeded in remaining. 1856 May 557 What is an opera without a love duel between the tenor and the baritone? 1932 R. Campbell 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. 2001 G. Adelman iii. 123 He evokes in his love duel..Ivan's relationship with Katerina. 1863 Sept. 305 A similar defect..strikes me in the love-duet which succeeds. 1975 12 Feb. 23/6 The dance of Discord and War..has to be reconciled by the love duet. 1616 B. Holyday tr. Persius sig. B6 Weak Love-elegies, such as Rome's nobles speak [L. non siqua elegidia crudidictarunt proceres?]. 1684 N. Lee sig. A4v (advt.) Virgil's Eclogues, Ovid's Love-Elegies, Odes of Horace, and other Authors. 1753 T. Francklin 11 (note) Hammond, author of Love elegies. 1783 H. Blair I. iv. 69 Sonnets, Pastorals, and Love Elegies. 1853 F. E. A. Gasc 73 I have some love elegies which..I mean to give to the public. 2003 R. K. Gibson in tr. Ovid 378 Domina, the standard term for mistress in love-elegy. c1540 (?a1400) (2002) f. 49v Lokyng on lenght with a loue ee. 1696 J. Lead sig. *F2 The beauteous Love-Eye burning in the Heart; From whence Loves Centres endless multlply. 1775 R. B. Sheridan iv. iv. 84 Her love-eye was fix'd on me—t'other—her eye of duty, was finely obliqued. 1956 ‘B. Holiday’ & W. Dufty xx. 182 I thought this had to be part of a build-up and the love eyes had to come later. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > attack of love 1582 R. Stanyhurst tr. Virgil iv. 78 Or fro this hoat looue fits I shal bee shortlye retrayted [L. vel eo me solvat amantem]. 1679 J. Goodman (1713) ii. i. 150 Taken with an agony of mind, or a kind of love-fit. 1713 C. Johnson (ed. 2) ii. i. 27 I'll..In this Lethargick Love-Fit steal his Crown. 1859 ‘H. Lee’ (1860) vii. 226 He had discovered one or two mature Phyllises..upon whom he retaliated the luckless experience he had gained in his first love-fit. 1906 6 28 When the love-fit was on between individual males and females. a1626 J. Davies (1869) I. 470 (title) Love-flight. 1936 29 307 The love-flights of many species depend on a subtle change in the character of the wing-beat, most marked perhaps in the waders. 1590 T. Lodge sig. Nv In elder time..the Shepheards Loue-gifts were apples and chestnuts. 1645 S. Rutherford xxv. 312 Christ is Gods highest love-gift. 1717 E. Biddle Augustus in i. 24 His liberal Love-Gifts would undo an Empire. 1876 R. Browning 279 The simpleton must ostentatiously Display a ring, the Cardinal's love-gift. 1987 J. Saltman 41 A love-gift from the girl's grandmother—seeds to be planted and to bloom as flowers in the new land. 1652 E. Benlowes x. iii. 179 No Grandee Patron court I, nor entice Love-glances from enchanting Eyes. 1820 J. Keats Lamia i, in 9 The love-glances of unlovely eyes. 1952 R. Campbell tr. 146 The love-glance of a courtesan. 1667 G. Digby iv. 50 O the unlucky Star That leads a Lady, engaged in love intrigues To take a new Attendant! 1726 W. Law (ed. 2) 11 It consists of Love-Intrigues, blasphemous Passions, prophane Discourses, [etc.]. 1798 W. Render tr. A. von Kotzebue iii. 110 Treason! Ships! Love intrigues! Flight! Conspiracy! 1893 H. B. Clarke 163 The plot invariably centres round the love intrigue of persons in the middle or upper classes of life. 2002 57 196 Valerius immediately befriends Sextus, and as a consequence becomes involved in a love intrigue. c1400 (?c1390) (1940) l. 1777 With luf-laȝyng a lyt. 1637 S. Rutherford 10 June (1848) clxxv. 328 Any little communion with him [sc. Christ], one of his love-looks, should be my begun heaven. 1680 E. Settle vi. 113 They interchange glances of Love-looks, while the Marchant is preparing for his intended visit. 1757 in (1758) 86/1 Soft blushes in her cheeks arise And love looks languid in her eyes. 1904 June 305/2 Do you think I don't know a love-look when I see it? 1943 M. Lavin 36 It was love-talk and love-looks that held down this man. 1754 H. Walpole (1846) III. 64 That living academy of love-lore, my Lady Vane. 1846 R. W. Emerson Jrnl. in (1971) 442 Tremulous with love-lore. 1962 7 June 16/3 William Gerhardi speaks of ‘love-lore’. 1809 (title) Royal love lyrics, from royal love letters, with notes and illustrations. 1856 3 372 The love-lyric..is probably the most intense expression of primitive passion. 1974 P. Dickinson ii. 44 You get a basic story, but inside it you get dramatic sections and love lyrics. 1823 3 722 Marriage has been proposed for love-madness. 1884 Dec. 134/1 Love-madness is nothing new. 1939 tr. E. N. Marais ix. 110 Young baboons during their period of love-madness lost all their usual fear of man. 1826 T. Roscoe IV. 7 Love-magic; some centuries ago. 1949 M. Mead iii. 56 How the..human sacrifice or love-magic fitted into the whole. 2002 W. H. Goodenough xvii. 253 Young people frequently resorted to love magic. 1781 Mar. 110/2 Where there is a lasting love Marriage, it would be exceedingly distressing to both of the parties to be convinced that where death does them part, their union is dissolved for ever. 1850 W. M. Thackeray II. xxi. 209 Look at your love-marriages... The love-match people are the most notorious of all for quarrelling afterwards. 1990 V. S. Naipaul i. 67 He had a sister who had made a love marriage a year or so before. ?1589 T. Nashe sig. B Profound Cliffe..broke vp his brotherly loue-meeting abruptly, when the spirite had but newly moued him. 1656 Duchess of Newcastle x. 346 A procuring Bawd is to make Love-matches, and contrive Love-meetings. 1760 C. Johnstone II. xi. 229 I told you that the attempt had been made upon the king, as he was returning from a love-meeting. 1864 A. Daly & F. Wood i. 19 A meeting—a love meeting with a woman of fashion! Happy Beaujolais! 1928 D. H. Lawrence xiii. 234 It was not the right sort of heart to take to a love-meeting. 1621 R. Burton iii. i. i. i. 495 Some or other..will much discommend some part of this Treatise of Loue Melancholy. 1694 N. H. at Occations of falling in Love Occasion, as we have said, is very much contributing to Love-Melancholy. 1798 C. Lucas xv. 186 They also explained to him..the young Captain's love melancholy. 1832 J. P. Kennedy I. xxvi. 276 Melancholy,—that is, your love-melancholy,—wears divers antics. a1963 L. MacNeice (1964) v. 162 The astrological causes of love-melancholy. 1882 9 Dec. 1579 His [sc. Sterne's] lovemongering was altogether contemptible. ?a1300 St. Eustace (Digby) l. 111 in C. Horstmann (1881) 2nd Ser. 213 Toward Egipte hy gunnen fare, ffore I-bounden al wiþ kare, And wiþ loue mourninge Of Crist þat alle þinge shop. 1845 May 639/2 He withdraws himself from all feasts, societies, and throngs of men, to dedicate himself to love-mourning. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > courting by singing serenades > poem suitable for a serenade > poem addressed to a beloved 1650 A. Cowley i. iii. sig. A4v I have two or three Love-odes ready made. 1689 M. Prior 50 Pigs might squeak love-odes, dogs bark satire. a1745 T. Warton (1748) 139 (title of poem) An American Love-Ode. 1792 S. T. Coleridge 13 Feb. (1956) I. 28 My tiny love ode possesses no other property in the world. 1859 C. M. Bain 142 (title) Rural love ode. 1582 T. Watson To Rdr. sig. A4 In respect of my trauaile in penning these louepassions. 1649 R. Baron 47 Palme trees are of both sexes, and expresse not a sympathy, but a Love passion. 1753 at Hope It is the hope of that [sc. enjoyment], which is the true basis of the love-passion. 1858 C. Lamb in Dec. 79/1 This drowsy Deity, who certainly was first invented in drink, as sloth and luxury are commonly the first movers in these idle love-passions. 1640 J. Gough iv. ii. sig. H4v O I feare This kindnesse is some love plot on my deare. 1672 J. Dryden ii. i. ii. 83 But your Love-plot I'le quickly countermine. 1795 tr. Flareau iii. ii. 37 Over turn their deep laid love plots by a speedy murther. 1871 D. H. Strother xvi. 298 A story without a love-plot is like a bush without a rose. 1995 (Nexis) 1 July 8 She will be cheating on her husband Frank all over again in the latest love plot aimed at boosting the show's ratings. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > courting by singing serenades > poem suitable for a serenade > poem addressed to a beloved 1616 G. Chapman in tr. G. Musaeus To Rdr. sig. A8v It being by all the most Learned, the incomparable Loue-Poem of the world. 1750 176 I shall not so much as mention his Canticles, which Grotius, as well as I, affirms to be a Love-Poem. 1847 Ld. Tennyson iv. 71 And this A mere love-poem. 1937 D. Thomas 6 Aug. (1987) 255 I'm a long way from everywhere, in a high huge haystack of a studio over the harbour,..writing an occasional bad love poem. 2002 Nov. 79/2 To get my own back, I sent a love poem to our history teacher and signed it from him. 1759 20 179 The Doctor's having entertained himself with translating the whole when he were still younger..were no improper circumstances for the transfusion of a gallant and soft love-poet. 1888 M. Arnold 2nd Ser. 43 Nor is Clarinda's love-poet, Sylvander, the real Burns either. 1923 J. M. Murry 224 Love poets are seldom the singers of happiness in love. 1995 V. Chandra (1996) 142 Here we are, you and I, love-poets of the first order, reduced to writing about a homicidal madman. 1787 in E. Spenser I. p. lxxxix The uncommon ardour of his passion, as well as the fineness of his wit and language, established him the master of love-poetry among the Moderns. 1861 J. Brown 2nd Ser. II. 466 This perfervor of our Scottish love poetry. 1991 F. Kanga (1992) vi. 79 And someone gave me a book of Elizabethan love poetry, but you can't read too much of that. Just an occasional dip. 1633 W. Prynne 88 The Scriptures doe expressly prohibit the personating of any sinne; much more then, the Acting of Adulteries, Incests, Rapes, Murders, Thefts, Lovepranks. 1746 A. Arbuthnot 204 His Love-pranks began to be the Subject of public-Talk. 1857 G. H. Boker II. 415 And curl in scorn when other maidens play Their love-pranks round me. 2001 (Nexis) 12 Mar. 73 Many of the traditional Horis retell the love pranks of Krish-na-Radha. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iv. i. 191 You haue simply misus'd our sexe in your loue-prate . View more context for this quotation 1769 E. Griffith ii. 20 Here comes my brother—have done with your love-prate. 1671 J. Milton 1008 Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end. View more context for this quotation 1694 L. Echard tr. Plautus Amphitryon iii. ii, in tr. Plautus 43 Whenever these little Love Quarrels happen, and those made up, the pleasing Passion's doubled. 1715 A. Pope in tr. Homer I. iii. Observ. 253 There is in one Place a Lover to be protected, in another a Love-Quarrel to be made up. 1798 J. Baillie Introd. Disc. in 56 The clearing up of some mistake or love-quarrel. 1857 C. Dickens xiii. 111 ‘One remark,’ said Flora, giving their conversation..the tone of a love quarrel. 1993 16 342 How a woman may read her man out, in a love quarrel. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > courting by singing serenades > poem suitable for a serenade > poem addressed to a beloved 1598 W. Shakespeare iii. i. 176 Dan Cupid, Regent of Loue-rimes. 1601 A. Munday & H. Chettle sig. E2 These loue-rimes are the tokens of small good. 1737 J. Miller ii. 4 Have a Respect unto the approaching Nuptials of my Friend Sir John Love-rhyme, and the virtuous Lady Toothless.] 1822 S. T. Coleridge (1971) V. 218 We used to carry..the pillage of the Flower Gardens..with Sonnet or Love-rhyme wrapped round the Nose-gay. 1905 20 176/1 In this Tuscan folk-poetry Mr. Hewlett finds an artistry which clearly differentiates its from the common love-rhyme of all nations. 1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch 350 The love-secrets [Fr. le secret des amours] and merrie conceits passing from an husband being absent in another countrey, and writing to his wife. 1676 J. Dryden ii. 18 What danger, Arimant, is this you fear? Or what Love-secret which I must not hear? 1753 S. Richardson 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 25 This meek ex-novice rifled Of her love-secrets? 1561 T. Hoby tr. B. Castiglione iii. sig. Bb.ii With what sober mode they shewe fauor to who so is in their loue seruice [It. che gli serue per amore]. 1695 J. Lead i. 33 When he saw thee wounded..his Eye pitied, and officiated in this Love Service, as one that had a fellow-feeling of thy Calamity. 1863 H. R. Geldart 238 Such a charming picture she gave of the pleasure and comfort of love service. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > god or goddess of love > Cupid's arrow 1600 W. Shakespeare ii. i. 159 Cupid..loos'd his loue-shaft smartly, from his bowe. View more context for this quotation 1656 J. Collop 76 Cupid of thy shoulders makes a bow, From whence fly love shafts wounding. 1692 H. Purcell ii. 12 Cupid..Let flye his Love-Shaft smartly from his Bow. 1838 3 544 I have generally observed that a love-shaft pierces through nine hundred and ninety-nine hearts at once. 1993 D. S. Olson (1994) x. 199 Andreé..watches from the shade of a garden pavilion, perhaps wishing that the arrows were love-shafts intended for him. 1621 R. Burton III. iii. ii. iii. i. 619 Loue will make them Musitians, and to make Ditties, Madrigalls, Elegies, & loue Sonnets. 1796 J. Thelwall 49 Have not our houses been previously plundered by his Majesty's messengers of..manuscripts of all descriptions from the novel and love sonnet to the physiological dissertation? 1870 D. G. Rossetti 26 Feb. (1965) II. 804 The love-sonnets are the preponderant portion. 1958 E. Blunden 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. 2003 10 Apr. 36/2 The popular singer Serafino Aquiliano, a lutenist whose outrageous sendups of Petrarchan love sonnets swept Italy in the 1490s to become the latest fashion in music. ?c1225 (?a1200) (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 153 Wið tollinde word oðer wið luue speche. 1588 A. Munday tr. i. vi. f. 14 Among a number of soft and sweete loue speeches, he discoursed to her his talke with the Emperour. 1694 N. H. at Form of Courtship There are very few even of our Dramatique Writers; whose Love-speeches read well, or appear free or natural. 1796 M. G. Lewis ii. 32 His love-speeches must be extremely moving! 1829 W. M. Thackeray ?25 Feb. (1945) I. 146 A gentleman..arrived [who]..makes love speeches to admiration. 1917 W. B. Yeats 47 Receive the love-speeches of Juliet with an ironical chirping. 2006 14 Oct. 22 Why else would the producers prompt [him] to give wife Vicky the longest, most inarticulate love speech in TV history? a1350 in K. Böddeker (1878) 201 Þy loue sprenges tacheþ me. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iii. ii. 3 Shall Antipholus Euen in the spring of Loue, thy Loue-springs rot? View more context for this quotation a1672 P. Sterry (1675) iii. 205 In these Angelical Loves, the Seraphims are all forms of things, as in their first, their sweetest created Love-Springs, and Love-Unions. a1586 Sir P. Sidney (1590) ii. ii. f. 102v His loue-suits made to Mopsa, meant to Pamela. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) v. ii. 101 Tearmes, Such as will..pleade his Loue-suit to her gentle heart. View more context for this quotation 1698 R. Gould 6 Some Brawny Groom..Cries Ough, and Mounts, and the Love-suit is done. 1775 R. Cumberland v. iii. 87 I fell into a kind of a love-suit here, with the young lady of this house. 1822 S. T. Coleridge (1995) II. 959 His murmur sounded..like the Prologue to a Love-suit. 1943 58 426 One of the most unintelligible lines in Shakespeare occurs in the short speech..in which Diana pretends to accede to Bertram's love-suit. 2001 27 34 Ladies who refuse the love suit will be held accountable for the lover's inevitable demise. 1728 27 I had the Pleasure to hear most dismal love Talk than ever was told in any of our modern Romances. 1862 G. Meredith xxxiii. 65 My wife, read this! Strange love talk, is it not? 1994 R. Hellenga xiii. 208 Tete-a-tete they talk the love talk they love to talk. c1400 (?c1390) (1940) l. 927 I hope þat may hym here Schal lerne of luf-talkyng. a1475 in J. O. Halliwell (1855) 2 A blestfulle songe that byrd gone synge, And I abode for love talkynge. a1350 in K. Böddeker (1878) 201 Of loue teres he weop a flod. 1857 Jan. 10 Eye of night, with love-tears swimming. 1829 245 Her cheek was pale, save when a blush (Raised by the youth's love-theme) cast a flush For a moment o'er it. 1938 R. Graves p. xxi With the love-theme went the old fear-theme, sharpened rather than blunted by the experiences of peace. 1957 A. R. Manvell & J. Huntley i. 21 Examples of original music by Griffith and Briel included a prominent love-theme (for the Little Colonel and Elsie Stoneman). 2002 Feb. 148/2 The only reason I felt compelled to go back and play was to hear the cool love theme (and subsequent power ballad) one more time. a1450 in R. H. Bowers (1963) 33 A swete lofe thowt is praised of me. a1586 Sir P. Sidney (1591) 49 Twinckling starres loue thoughts prouoke. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) i. i. 40 Loue-thoughts lye rich, when canopy'd with bowres. View more context for this quotation 1688 D. Leeds App. 81 The Spirit of the Life..is as it were more than half mad with Love-thoughts. 1781 H. Downman sig. A2 No antique Bards for love-thoughts I explore. 1885 July 417/1 He sings the youthful loves of a lass of La Crau,..that touching poem built of love-thoughts and impressions of nature. 1984 51 711 We have heard Jane fantasize about this kind of allegorical pilgrimage before, though it was significantly after these hitherto undocumented love thoughts. 1566 ‘W. P.’ tr. C. S. Curio f. 96 Discourses and loue toyes [It. gli amori] are woes, playes and pastimes are woes. 1647 J. Trapp (Coloss. iv. 16) Other good books must be read..yet not idle pamphlets, and love-toies. 1706 E. Ward II. ii. 8 Kisses, Love-Toys, and am'rous Prattle. 1773 R. Graves III. ix. xi. 39 One would think it was a love-toy; and that it was given you by your sweet-heart. 2001 Feb. 77/3 The aim is to be your mistress' love-toy and she should employ all means necessary to cajole or punish you into submission. the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > [noun] > instance of coquetry 1567 W. Painter II. f. 199 Well it might haue bene said, of loue trickes that she was the only dame and mistresse. 1590 T. Watson 266 Let them suppose sweete Musicke out of vse, and wanton louetricks to be foolish toies. 1611 R. Cotgrave Amourettes, loue-trickes. 1729 C. Johnson iii. ii. 66 A Love-trick, which is, must, and will always be pardonable. 1826 S. Smith (1859) II. 90/2 All the various love-tricks of attempting to appear indifferent. 1960 T. Hughes 74 Her love-tricks were the grinding of locks. 1598 F. Meres tr. Luis de Granada i. xix. 202 Hee hath..imployed all the strength and sinnowes of his reason and vnderstanding..in compozing Poems, in making loue Verses [Sp. en componer sonetos llenos de agudeza y sentencias]. 1647 A. Cowley (title) The mistresse, or severall copies of love-verses. a1708 Walsh in J. Dryden (1727) IV. 335 Petrarch..being by much the most famous of all the Moderns who have written Love-Verses. 1799 F. Reynolds i. 4 While I'm copying out pleadings in one room, you're writing love verses in another. 1841 T. D. Lauder I. 100 Here is one..which would seem to have a curious posey in it; some ready-made love verse, I suppose. 1927 E. V. Gordon p. xliv Some love-verses of his were there inserted in the poem. 2003 98 504 Matthew Bell demonstrates from examples of love verse over Goethe's entire career how love is always grounded in nature. 1637 S. Rutherford (1848) cxxiii. 234 Our Lord maketh delicates and dainties of his sweet presence and love-visits to his own. 1735 J. Miller i. i. 7 Besides, Sir, their very Dress and Deportment were shocking. To make a Love-Visit with a plain Leg..and a Coat without Lace. 1898 R. G. Moulton (ed. 2) viii. 278 If the gods resist,..blockade them when they wish to make their love visits to earth. 1995 J. Jochens (1998) ii. 34 In recounting the illicit love visits of their pagan ancestors, they recognized the deep historical roots of extramarital sexual relations. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > sentimental trivia or endearments a1250 Ureisun ure Louerde (Nero) in R. Morris (1868) 1st Ser. 201 Hwi ne con ich wowen þe wið swete luue wordes. a1651 D. Calderwood (1843) II. 352 Manie love words she useth to Bothwell in this letter. 1883 Aug. 368 Why did her love-words echo in his ear? 1999 A. Arensberg vi. xvi. 184 He used to whisper to her while he aroused her, borrowing love words from classical pornography. C2. Objective. a. 1612 A. Stafford tr. I. Lipsius Oration against Calumny in 134 I shall desire this faire Audience..to fill and guide the sailes (as I may say) of my Oration, with the Zephyrus, or gentle gale of their loue-breathing thoughts [L. vela hæc, vt sic dicam, orationis meæ Zephyro beniuolentiæ vestræ afflate atque dirigite]. 1744 J. Thomson Autumn in (new ed.) 157 In Rapture warbled from Love-breathing Lips. 1775 R. B. Sheridan iii. i. 51 What think you of blooming, love-breathing seventeen? 1839 J. A. Hillhouse I. 22 Love-breathing words, Without direction, date, or name. 1808 E. S. Barrett 165 What money Mr. Greentimber disbursed on account of the great man's love-broking affairs. 1606 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas (new ed.) ii. iii. 139 Her sweet, love-darting Eyne. 1637 J. Milton 26 Love-darting eyes. 1788 ‘A. Pasquin’ (ed. 2) iii. 39 See the love-darting blaze of her black rolling eye. 1844 R. F. Williams I. ii. 37 ‘By those divine and love-darting orbs, I am in no voice,’ replied the musician. 1599 W. Shakespeare ii. v. 7 Then loue-deuouring death do what he dare. View more context for this quotation 1683 J. Lead 116 The Love devouring flame is come forth to kindle upon them. 1816 Ld. Byron lxxix. 44 To that gentle touch, through brain and breast Flashed the thrill'd spirit's love-devouring heat. 1594 R. Barnfield sig. E And thou loue-hating Boy, (whom once I loued) Farewell, a thousand-thousand times farewell. 1807 ‘Q. Queerum’ 8 Back the god of love flew, And wounded each heart of the love-hating crew. 1962 14 169/2 A son-devouring and love-hating woman who hangs up the stuffed body of her deceased husband in a closet wherever she goes. 2003 (Nexis) 10 Oct. 16 s A love-hating self-help writer, and..a playboy men's-magazine journalist out to expose her softer side. 1701 T. D'Urfey ii. i. 13 The Love-inspiring Graces of thy Person. 1797 M. Robinson I. 277 The love-inspiring dames of luxurious Italy. 1851 W. M. Thackeray in 2 134/2 The Exhibition..was..a great love-inspiring, gooseflesh-bringing sight. 1934 4 Oct. 2/2 He's been inviting violence all his life. Not a sweet and love-inspiring chappie. 1999 (Nexis) 28 Aug. 10 A roll-call of stories of maddening yet still love-inspiring parents, children and partners. 1532 T. More Confut. Tyndale in 403/1 His false loue-lacking charitie. 1593 W. Shakespeare sig. Eiijv Loue-lacking vestals, and selfe-louing Nuns. View more context for this quotation 1599 W. Shakespeare iii. ii. 5 Spread thy close curtaine loue-performing night. View more context for this quotation 1742 A. Pope 298 Love-whisp'ring woods, and Lute-resounding waves. a1790 W. Livingston Philos. Solitude in (1793) 155 Love-whispering groves, and silver-streaming floods. b. c1440 (?a1375) Abbey Holy Ghost (Thornton) in G. G. Perry (1914) 62 Þat he ne do no trispase agayne þe rewle..of þis relegion and of þase lufefrayners. 1591 J. Lyly i. iii. sig. B4 Thys idle humor of loue..tickleth not my lyuer, from whence the Loue-mongers in former age seemed to inferre they should proceede. 1598 W. Shakespeare ii. i. 254 Thou art an old Loue-monger . View more context for this quotation 1772 J. Entick (new ed.) Lovemonger, s. one who deals in affairs of love. 1865 A. C. Swinburne i. ii. 35 These jangling song-smiths are keen love-mongers, They snap at all meats. 1962 13 Mar. 9/4 She is natural prey to the..cynically patient love-mongers that exist in the shadows of a corrupt society. 2001 (Nexis) 27 Sept. a22 The love mongers, who preach endlessly about loving everything and love as a way of salvation are really not talking about love. C3. Adverbial (chiefly instrumental), parasynthetic, and similative. 1668 T. Jordan v. i. 40 Our Parents did..propagate the world, with love born Creatures. 1754 G. Jeffreys 33 Wrong'd by Love-born Jealousy, She fled. 1838 E. S. Wortley II. 472 Often have I..deemed Life's happiest moments were Ev'n those that owned no love-born care. 1787 F. Grose Superstitions 3 in But if any disconsolate old maiden, or love-crossed bachelor, happened to dispatch themselves in their garters, the room where the deed was perpetrated was rendered forever uninhabitable. 1885 R. Bridges viii. iv. 93 Many an old love-crossed And doleful ditty would she gently sing. 1963 F. L. Lucas i. 14 He was thinking early in 1901 of a play about a love-crossed scientist going on an expedition to the Arctic. 2004 (Nexis) 15 July 1 People will be able to see the Bard at his best with love-crossed nobles, mischievous servants and fools and jesters galore. 1832 Ld. Tennyson Eleänore in (new ed.) 29 The languors of thy lovedeep eyes. 1988 N. C. L. Madgett ii. 83 Even in this world may the love-deep roots of trees conquer evil's senseless blight. 1725 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer I. i. 532 Love-dittied airs [Gk. ἱμερόεσσαν ἀοιδὴν], and dance, conclude the day. 1835 R. Mant 194 Thou..Dost sweetly with love-dittied song Help the slow-pacing hours along. 1665 R. Brathwait 23 We are now to..descend to our love-enthralled Absolon. a1910 J. W. Howe (1941) ii. i. 88 At thy feet he lies To rise no more but shorn and love-enthralled. 1823 T. Roscoe tr. J. C. L. de Sismondi IV. xxxvi. 458 The melancholy soul of a love-fond poet. a1791 T. Blacklock (1793) 168 Let her fly The tender lisp, the love-illumin'd eye. 1910 E. M. Barton 72 Youths and maidens, now so hopefully surveying The love-illumined avenue of life. 1691 E. Taylor in tr. J. Behmen 204 No Tongue or Pen can more than smatter, at the recital of the love-inspired Words. 1754 T. Cooke 8 Now the love-inspired Swain Breathes his Vows. 1785 A. Yearsley 28 His mate Shall love-inspired notes repeat. 1877 P. J. Bailey (ed. 10) xviii. 273 To assimilate to his own, All spirits, that, love-inspired, they share his boundless throne. 1942 2 285 He is attracted by the love inspired and selfless proselytism of St. Francis. 2005 (Nexis) 26 Sept. The New Year brings Vivaldi concertos and Bach sonatas with more Quartets and Valentines's Day love-inspired music. a1586 Sir P. Sidney (1593) i. sig. H5 Then did he slack his loue-enstructed pace. 1882 W. Carleton (rev. ed.) 121 Leaves picked by love-instructed art From off the branches of the heart. 1667 J. Milton v. 41 The night-warbling Bird, that now awake Tunes sweetest his love-labor'd song. View more context for this quotation 1696 J. Lead sig. *E3v Let all the Heavenly Nine..in one high Love-labour'd Song agree. 1757 W. Thompson Gondibert & Birtha in i. iii. 339 The Love-labour'd Song of Nightingales. 1867 A. Cary xi. 200 The night warbling bird, that now awake, Tunes sweetest his love-labored song. 1772 S. Whyte 20 A chearless Guest, Yok'd with Despair, in a Love-laden Breast. 1820 P. B. Shelley To Skylark in 203 Soothing her love-laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love. 1908 July 119 The British Conquest of India freed three millions of the population to enjoy the love-laden atmosphere of Christianity. 1595 E. Spenser Epithalamion in v. sig. G6 The birds louelearned song. 1785 T. Dwight iii. 64 For earth too bright were these love-lighted fires! 1904 9 Feb. 5/2 Peering through the pale miracle of spring at his violets,..his blear eyes love-lighted. a1809 A. Seward (1810) III. 63 Long shall thy love-lit eyes be dim If soon thou art not bravely free. 1948 E. Blunden (1964) 208 Here she is in her father's garden, flowering, love-lit, awaiting the slow old Nurse. 1657 J. Harington (ed. 3) ii. 60 Nor wonder, Chain'd, since grew Love-mad, distracted. 1839 H. Hallam IV. vi. 451 Love-mad and yet talking in gallant conceits. 1918 E. R. Burroughs xiv. 161 I have saved his priestess from love-mad Tantor. 2003 13 Feb. 24/1 Among them are the love-mad queen Phaedra..and the wild-eyed Cassandra in Trojan Women. a1586 Sir P. Sidney (1593) i. sig. H5v His loue-open eye..that eu'n did marke hir troden grasse. 1717 E. Fenton tr. Homer Odyssey xi, in 101 Wand'ring Love-pensive near his Amber Stream. 1770 J. Armstrong Forced Marriage i. ii, in II. 79 A hopeful youth to grow love-pensive! 1749 S. Richardson (ed. 2) III. lxxvi. 363 For already I am convinced, that there is not a woman in the world that is Love-proof and Plot-proof, if she be not the person. 1810 III. 121 The widow..placed herself opposite this love-proof hero. 1888 N. F. Davin 26 Cold, love proof maid, serene, omnipotent In arms. 1941 T. R. Ybarra i. 9 Despite her conquests, Minnie Russell remained love-proof. 2002 (Nexis) 27 Apr. He..is suddenly stuck with a very uncool child (Hoult), who starts invading every corner of his love-proof life. 1595 S. Daniel ii. lxxix. sig. K3 [She] her loue-quicke eies which ready be, Fastens on one. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iii. ii. 355 I am he that is so Loue-shak'd, I pray you tel me your remedie. View more context for this quotation the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [adjective] > smitten with love 1833 A. Domett 174 Those eyes, whose language did surpass The eye-talk of love-smitten lass. 1996 A. Lykiard tr. L. Aragon 64 Let your two motionless palms, your love-smitten mitts on that prominent curve, join up towards the hardest, best point which raises the holy ogive to its peak. 1648 R. Herrick sig. I4v The love-spent Youth, and love-sick Maid. 1654 T. White ii. 132 The most charming Mystery, and inchanting Riddle, that ever love-spent bowels were able to sing or sigh out. 1880 M. H. De la Cherois-Crommelin III. 322 At first, poor love-starved Nannie listened with avidity. 1909 24 July 2/1 Love-starved young Keats hath cast his gift of clay. 1996 Dec. 42/1 The latest trend in love-starved Hollywood, a town where you can't move for gorgeous lovelies, arm in arm with dweebs. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [adjective] > smitten with love 1750 H. Snell 132 Our Hannah pretended to be love-stricken, at the very first Sight. 1806 T. S. Surr II. x. 235 Bless me, the youth is love-stricken! 1992 24 Aug. 80/3 Willis has a fine-beaten air as a love-stricken schlub. 1831 L. E. Landon 61 Those winged words of soul and flame, Breathed in the dark-eyed beauty's ear By some young love-touched cavalier. 1872 A. T. de Vere Arraignment in 7 Like birds that cannot stay their songs Love-touched in Spring. 1587 G. Turberville 198 Where the blinded archer with his bow Did glaunce at sundry gallants euery day..Yet must I seeme loue wounded eke to be. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) i. ii. 114 Loue wounded Protheus. 1905 A. C. Swinburne II. 109 A heart love-wounded whereto love was law. 1856 W. Whitman (new ed.) 172 Hair, bosom, hips, bend of legs,..love-flesh swelling and deliciously aching. c1890 IX. i How soft and smooth,..solid, stiff, yet semi-elastic is the male love truncheon. 1896 J. S. Farmer & W. E. Henley IV. 241/2 Love-lane,..the female pudendum. c1930 65 I so tickled the little button just at the entrance of her love grotto, that she hugged me convulsively to her bosom. 1962 P. Crump xlii. 386 Ya make me nervous with that death talk and my love bone goes down. 1990 10 52 Terms of endearment for women's breasts,..love pillows. 2006 (Nexis) 30 Nov. (Essential section) 8 Leading men often leap for the love button without any attempt at foreplay. 1833 [see love game n. at Compounds 6]. 1878 J. Marshall 158 Love-set, a set in which one player wins six consecutive games; or, in case of an advantage-set, seven consecutive games. 1884 25 Apr. 3/2 In the two first days' play the whole of the heats were love victories. 1930 8 Aug. 5/4 To the player winning the most love sets in proportion to the number of matches played, will be presented a racket press. 2003 O. Shine 75 A love match, these days, would be unheard of, but at a Seattle tournament in 1910 Hazel Hotchkiss won 48 straight points to beat a Miss Huiskamp 6–0, 6–0 without losing a point. C6. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual desire > [noun] > sexual affection a1500 (a1400) (Chetham) (1889) 127 Owghte she covthe of love amowre. society > faith > aspects of faith > piety > [noun] ?c1225 (?a1200) (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 315 Ma of liðe wordes þenne of sturne, for þer of kimeð þinge best. þet is luue eie. a1500 How Good Man taught his Son (Cambr.) 141 in (1889) 2 33 With lone [read loue] awe, sone, þy wyfe chastyse. 1656 J. Mennes & J. Smith 35 Another ask't me..Whether I wore a Love-bagge on my shoulder? the mind > emotion > love > [noun] > love of humanity > necklace worn as symbol of universal love 1928 22 June 2/7 (advt.) Bohemian love beads. 1967 23 Aug. a3/7 Hippy bag... Holds everything. Love beads, books..you name it. 1968 20 June 1/5 Love beads draped on him by Pierre Trudeau, adorn former Prime Minister Pearson at Toronto political rally. 1969 R. Lowell (1970) 217 Our love-beads Rattling together to show that we were young. 1973 ‘B. Mather’ xiii. 155 Weirdo fringed shirts, headbands, love beads..as unsavoury a bunch of love children as I have ever seen. 2003 D. Gaines xv. 328 There had been long-standing rumors of Johnny all douched up in the '60s with love beads, a headband, and bell-bottoms, but I said nothing. society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > relationship to parent > [adjective] > illegitimate 1761 T. Smollett Sir Launcelot Greaves in Dec. 631/1 He owned she was a love-begotten babe. 1771 T. Smollett I. 172 That he had been a love-begotten babe, brought up in the work-house. 1784 (MS) Mary, daughter of Ann Allen—Love begotten, [baptized]. 1843 J. S. Knowles Secretary v. iv, in (1859) 454 He was of noble stock, and told you true—My eldest brother's love-begotten son! the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > fetters of love a1300 in C. Brown (1932) 117 Maide dreiȝ & wel itaucht, ic em in þine loue-bende. c1330 (?c1300) (Auch.) 324 Leuer him wer walk & wende, & dye in trewe loue bende. the mind > emotion > love > kiss > [noun] > love-bite 1749 J. Cleland II. 63 Then the turtle-billing kisses, and the poignant painless love-bites. 1778 tr. J. Lernutius in tr. J. Secundus (ed. 3) x. 108 (note) Poignant Love-Bites, and the nimble Tongue, Shall the dear Wanderer recal. 1903 H. Ellis 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 29 Jan. 3/1 Once I saw her sitting in class with a love bite on her neck. 2004 J. Meno 142 She had this love bite, you know, on her neck; one bright red mark at the base of her throat. ?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in (1998) I. 47 I cast on him a crabit e..And lettis it is a luf blenk. 1636 S. Rutherford (1863) I. 155 My Bridegroom's love-blinks fatten my weary soul. 1716 J. Willison 261 Can you say there is nothing..would please you so much as one Ray or Love-blink of his [sc. Christ's] Countenance? 1823 R. Story In my Hey-day of Youth in (1857) 35 If there's gloom in her e'e..It stays na sae lang till it quite disappears, Laughed aff by a love-blink. 1890 J. Coghill 148 Mark the luve-blink in here e'e. 1927 J. Carruthers i. §3 ‘I canna thole women.’.. James laughed... ‘Wait till ane o' them gies ye the love-blink.’ society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > Testament > Old Testament > divisions of Old Testament > [noun] > song of Solomon the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > tale or song of love > book treating of love ?c1225 (?a1200) (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 82 As mi leofmon seið to me in þet luue boke, ‘osculetur me osculo oris sui’. 1587 F. Clement sig. Cijv Bookeloue I say, but I meane not louebookes, which..be the enemies of vertue. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) i. i. 19 Pro. For I will be thy beades-man, Valentine. Val. And on a loue-booke pray for my successe? View more context for this quotation 1690 T. Shadwell i. i. 2 What's here? a wicked and profane Love Book. 1845 N. P. Willis ii. 64 He has written Henrietta Temple—the silliest yet truest love-book of modern time. 1936 C. S. Lewis iv. 172 Hence those strange comings and goings in every medieval love-book. 2003 32 29 It is a love book, but the torturers ascribe a different value to it and don't understand it. the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > homosexuality > [noun] > a homosexual person > male > boy or youth 1655 R. Davenport v. sig. H2 The wound that foolish love-Boy there..Had struck your heart with. a1656 J. Ussher (1658) vi. 131 Pausanias, being discovered by Argilius, his love-boy. 1914 C. Mackenzie II. iv. iv. 930 Good job if that love-boy of hers does punch into her. Silly cow! She ought to know better. 1993 J. Peck 61 He turns away to returning love-boy, she returns to father. society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > [noun] > illegitimate child a1700 in R. Nares (1822) Four love brats will be laid to thee. 1998 (Nexis) 12 May 28 Your own zany brand of humour..is surely the cheeky love brat of Howard Stern and Jenny Eclair. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iii. ii. 34 There is no loue-Broker in the world, can more preuaile in mans commendation with woman, then report of valour. View more context for this quotation 1698 E. Settle 16 Our Diminitive Love-broker has no more Hand in the Affair, then meer starting the Game. 1794 G. Palomba i. vii. 13 I am no love-broker. 1885 8 May 11/4 She reveals herself as a love-broker, a weekly lender of love. 1988 (Nexis) 30 May c4 (headline) Movie casting directors really love brokers... At least six of their [on-screen] pairings have developed into real-life romances. 2007 (Nexis) 20 June h3 That 21st-century dating experience led Koechel to seek out a practitioner of an ages-old custom: matchmaking... These love brokers reflect modern life. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > letter sent between lovers > call or note as means of amorous communication 1600 sig. I4 (title) Phillidaes Loue-call to her Coridon, and his replying. 1824 M. R. Mitford I. 198 In less than two minutes Harriet heard the love-call sounded at Sally's gate. 1880 A. H. Swinton v. 209 A love-call that reproduces..the strutting, wing-drumming, and rustling of the males of the turkey and grouse at the pairing time. 1887 31 Dec. 901/3 He [sc. Mr. Rowbotham] disagrees with Darwin in finding the origin of all instrumental music in the love-call. a1933 J. A. Thomson (1934) I. xx. 645 Partly a challenge..it is also a love-call; and the male bird has a simple courtship ritual of strutting before his desired mate. 2002 15 June 32/1 In Panama, predatory bats home in on the night-time love calls of male tungara frogs. the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [noun] > petty amour or love affair 1601 tr. M. Martínez sig. Hh2v The great and famous Captaine Bembo rose up, who in Loue causes [Sp. en casos de amor] desired euer to bee the first. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iv. i. 91 In all this time there was not anie man died in his owne person (videlicet) in a loue cause . View more context for this quotation 1668 P. M. Cimmerian Matron 11 in W. Charleton Her Clients were often forced to gratifie her, for solliciting their Love-causes, with such Fees. 1798 A. Schink tr. A. von Kotzebue iv. i. 46 You must..plead my Love-cause with Mrs. Smith. 1824 C. M. Sedgwick III. xx. 130 Depend on it, a love cause is better in the hands of the principal than the most eloquent agent. society > communication > journalism > journal > periodical > [noun] > comic 1948 26 Feb. 10/3 The reader who fights for each installment of high adventure, mass homicide, glamor and love comics is an ‘ego enhancement’ type. 1951 M. McLuhan 151/2 It recently shifted a large section of its enterprises from murder to love comics. 1970 G. Greer 214 The market is contested by..love comics and fotoromance. 1992 S. Tharoor (1995) v. 254 The house is already littered with cassette tapes, love comics, costume jewelry, and pinup posters. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > potion or drug used to promote love the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [noun] > potion or drug to promote love the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [noun] > with two or more handles 1561 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger xlii. 280 Poysoning, louecuppes, and inchauntmentes [L. venena, philtra & incantationes], were in the time of S. Iohn most frequented, through out the Romane Empire. 1680 H. More xviii. 182 Her poisoned Philter or Love-Cup. 1792 E. Sibly (new ed.) iv. 1111 As for philtres, love-cups, and the like, they unquestionably proceed from a natural cause. 1849 D. Rock IV. xi. 86 The love-cup was sent about. 1891 A. Austin iii. 162 Then shall no love-cup cheat the toils that tire Nor care be chased by wedlock's staunch caress. 1925 E. H. Haight 204 In reply to his piteous appeal Canidia only invokes Night and Diana to aid her in preparing a more potent love cup for the man who scorns her. 1933 18 Apr. 1/2 He had admitted buying for $4 the silver ‘love cup’. 2000 (Nexis) 25 Apr. Mead and fruit wine were served in Tudor three-handled ‘love-cups’. 1840 Feb. 69 An aggravator, or love curl, of a delicate roundness, hung low upon the imperial forehead. 1926 T. E. Lawrence (subscribers' ed.) lxxxvii. 461 In command was young Metaab, stripped to his skimp riding-drawers for hard work, with his black love-curls awry. 1971 9 Sept. 21/2 The ‘Love Touch’ is a casual cap of a coiffure highlighted by love curls, braids or waves. 1761 Petition P. Yeaman in 28 July 13 That he and others went [to clean the mill-leads], and some did not; which made the deponent believe it was a love-dargue. 1895 ‘I. Maclaren’ 338 It's a love-darg,..because ye've been sober..they juist want to show kindness, bein' oor neeburs. 1960 Huntly Express 27 May in (1965) VI. 166/1 Mr Smith seems to have been a popular type and instead of offering him a present or standing him a complimentary dinner, the farmers decided to treat him to a love darg. 1877 F. P. Pascoe 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’. 1958 J. E. Morton vii. 132 The vagina develops also a muscular caecum, the dart sac, in which is produced a fine-pointed calcareous shaft, about 5/16in. long, and delicately ridged. This is the telum amoris, or ‘love dart’, which is exchanged by the partners with some velocity before courtship. 2005 20 582/2 The use of the love dart (laced with hormones from the dart sac-associated mucus glands) increases the number of escaping spermatozoa. c1390 (?a1325) Long Charter of Christ (Vernon) A. l. 62 in F. J. Furnivall (1901) ii. 642 (MED) And þis I made for Monkynde, Mi loue-dedes to haue in mynde. a1631 J. Donne (1633) 223 Gentle love-deeds, as blossomes on a bough, From loves awakened root do bud out now. 1846 J. Keble (1862) 58 So many love-deeds done, to cease Her kindly toil..Small joy to her would seem. 1891 T. D. Sullivan tr. Ailleen & Baille in 98 The saddest, sweetest love deeds done In Ulster's noble land. 1911 E. Toldridge Mother's Love Songs in 19 296 Love-words, love-deeds, and tenderer, too, Than we give to any other. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > potion or drug used to promote love the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [noun] > potion or drug to promote love 1709 J. Johnson 69 Pharmacy probably signifies here..the compounding of philtrums or love-doses. 1966 11 Aug. a22/1 (headline) Eagles get love dose... Golden eagles..are being given a love potion because the birds will not mate. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > potion or drug used to promote love the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [noun] > potion or drug to promote love 1647 R. Stapleton tr. Juvenal 85 Their love-draughts, charmes, and druggs [L. hippomanes carmenque..coctumque uenenum]. 1751 J. Stirling tr. Horace I. v. v. 159/2 Dry'd liver might be a love draught [L. amoris poculum]. 1841 G. Borrow I. ii. i. 228 The women..dealing in love draughts and diablerie. 1906 27 Aug. 3/1 The love-draught which Tristram and Iseult drink together. 2002 (Nexis) 13 July 5 We talked on into the night about the morality of love draughts. society > faith > aspects of faith > piety > [noun] a1400 (Pepys) (1976) 159 Haue swich drede to hym as þe good wyf haþ to hir housbonde, þat is, a loue drede for loue þat sche haþ to hym. a1425 J. Wyclif (1871) II. 316 Love-drede is in men wiþouten siche servile drede. c1450 (1900) 243 For þe loue-dreed þat sche hadde to god. 1641 W. Vaughan v. 181 He must take up the Crosse with Love-dread Note. 1613 J. Marston & W. Barksted v. sig. I4v Let him that hath drunke loue drugs trust a woman. 1876 J. B. L. Warren iv. iv. 358 He would rub the love-drug from his eyes. 1954 5 270 ‘Budded bosom-peaks’ seems to me too hackneyed..an indelicacy to come from Tennyson, even though he gives it to the mouth of Lucretius mad with a love-drug. 1969 17 May 3/4 The new ‘love drug’, MDA (3, 4-methylenedioxy-phenyl-iso-propylamine). 2002 22 Apr. 5/8 A love drug that claims to trigger erections more quickly and safely than Viagra is expected to reach the Australian market next year. a1393 J. Gower (Fairf.) vi. 307 (MED) Lovedrunke is the meschief Above alle othre the most chief. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > love-token or love-gift 1597 Bp. J. Hall i. ii. 4 Deck't with loue-fauors. 1696 J. Lead 85 In her Love-Favour you may all abide, to whom this Word of Counsel shall come. 1703 T. Baker i. i. 8 I never desire any private Love-favours from 'em. 1860 T. B. Aldrich 97 Such carrying of love-favors and pink notes! 1921 18 Oct. 6/8 Thou [sc. a flower] wert pluckt and given to me, For a love-favor. the mind > emotion > love > courtship or wooing > [noun] > act of courtship 1598 W. Shakespeare v. ii. 124 And euery one his Loue-feat will aduance, Vnto his seuerall Mistres. View more context for this quotation 1907 6 Oct. (Sporting section) 9/3 After the fight was over the St. Louis papers referred to the affair as a kid glove love fest. 1950 F. Howley vi. 109 I grew skeptical about having a love fest after such a battle. 2006 (Nexis) 12 Mar. 15 Keating's extended chat with the writer..was an unexpurgated love-fest. 1637 S. Rutherford Let. 7 Mar. in (1664) ci. 201 I dare beleeve no evil of Christ: if he would cool my love-fever for himself with reall presence & possession, I would be rich. 1753 S. Richardson I. 88 But when the Love-fever was at the height, did you make any-body uneasy with your passion? 1868 M. Collins III. 105 The love-fever has variable symptoms. 1952 279 214/2 Weinstein argues effectively for love as the product of responsible family living and sanely deplores the love fever brand of romanticism. 2005 (Nexis) 2 May a8 Being romantic is terrific once you're in a relationship, but not if you work yourself into a love fever before you've even heard a Yes to a first date. a1375 (c1350) (1867) l. 1020 (MED) William wold fonde for to pleie in þat place þe priue loue game. 1591 sig. D2v Is all the bloud yspilt on either part..Growne to a loue-game and a Bridall feast? 1819 (ed. 2) I. 133 It may be an useful lesson to yourself and to others who play the love-game at piquet. 1833 T. Hook I. vi. 106 Can't make a hazard..and has lost two love games. 1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. I. 264/2 (Curling) Souter, to score a love game; not to allow the opponents to score. 1925 F. Harris I. 182 I waited a little while and then began the love game. 1978 5 Mar. c2/1 Connors..quickly served a love game to tie the score. 1985 I. Opie & P. Opie iv. 126 ‘Now you're married we wish you joy’ is, of course, tagged on to many a love game. 2003 O. Shine 80 An exchange of love games moved the set into a tie-break. 1975 W. Kempton iv. 55 (table) Synonyms..Condom..rubber..sheik..love-glove. 1987 7 Nov. 6/2 Their standards and practices permitted the words ‘prophylactic’ and ‘contraceptive’ and even a student who calls a condom a ‘love glove’. 2005 L. Sussman vi. 140 Remember your three Ls—lube (lots of it, the water-based kind), love glove and logic. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > god or goddess of love 1598 G. Chapman in C. Marlowe & G. Chapman (new ed.) iii. sig. Fv The treasure which the Loue-god let him ioy In his deare Hero. 1609 W. Shakespeare cliv. sig. K The little Loue-God lying once a sleepe. View more context for this quotation 1887 C. Bowen tr. Virgil Æneid i, in tr. 101 She addresses the Love-god plumed for the flight. 1961 W. Brandon 113/2 The Pan of the later Pueblos, a humpbacked ithyphallic love god usually shown leeringly playing a seductive flute. 1982 (Nexis) 19 Nov. (Weekend section) 19 James Dean, her safely dead love god. 2002 July (Encycl. Eroticus Suppl.) 4/1 Best position for aquatic fun. Deep penetration coupled with the steam should assure your status as a love god. 1837 T. Carlyle II. i. xii. 89 Beauty no longer swims decorated in her garniture, like Love-goddess hidden-revealed in her Paphian clouds. 1949 2 Jan. 7/7 Worshipped by the throng that has always revered cleavage above dramatic ability, Rita became what Life magazine termed the love goddess of the twentieth century. 1995 Sept. 226/2 The love-goddess contours of her body. 2001 145 458 Aphrodite, the love-goddess,..bears a strong resemblance to the Semitic love-goddess Ishtar. the world > life > the body > bodily substance > fat > [noun] > round waist 1970 (Univ. S. Dakota) 4 iii.–iv. 20 Love handles, the fat on one's sides. 1989 T. Clancy xiii. 306 No longer a young man.., love handles at his waist, much of his hair gone. 2005 Aug. 141/4 My girlfriend had a tummy tuck to get rid of her belly... She says it was worth it, but I'd rather have her love handles. the mind > emotion > love > [noun] > conflicting emotion combining love and hate the mind > emotion > love > [adjective] > relating to love-hate the mind > emotion > hatred > [noun] > conflicting emotion combining love and hatred 1925 J. Riviere et al. tr. S. Freud IV. 79 So the second antithesis, love-hate, reproduces the polarity pleasure-pain, which is bound up with the former. 1937 H. Nicolson 16 June (1966) 302 Goering..has the love-hate complex of the average German bourgeois for England. 1950 E. J. Simmons xix. 315 Versilov's..love-hate relations with Katerina which conclude with his mad attempt to murder her. 1972 Ld. Robens ii. 15 My personal relationship with the men and their leaders was schizophrenic—a sort of love-hate relationship. 2002 M. Holroyd 308 Television..has become the chief vehicle for a love-hate obsession with ‘personalities’. the mind > emotion > love > [verb (transitive)] > feel love-hate for the mind > emotion > hatred > hate inwardly or intensely [verb (transitive)] > feel emotion combining love and hatred 1963 14 July 13/4 If he love-hates his mother, he's a neurotic personality. 1967 A. Wilson ii. 216 She love-hates him enough to be unable to leave him. 1985 (Nexis) 20 Jan. iii. 1 Places in the city that are visited, pointed out, love-hated and pondered. 2002 A. N. Wilson xxii. 339 The boozy old boilers, the Mrs Gamps and Betsy Prigs whom Dickens love-hated, stayed away. the mind > emotion > love > [noun] > conflicting emotion combining love and hate the mind > emotion > hatred > [noun] > conflicting emotion combining love and hatred 1928 5 Aug. 4/1 Coupled to this love-hatred feature of the Smith situation, there is the great American admiration for the personality and career of Herbert Hoover. 1951 H. Hatfield 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 18 Mar. 11/4 The love-hatred of Isolde for Tristan. 2002 (Nexis) 12 May (ES Mag.) 3 London born and bred, I share the love-hatred for my city of most Londoners. 1649 J. Ellistone tr. J. Böhme xvii. viii. 140 I onely sought the pleasant love heart of Jesus Christ [Ger. das liebreiche Hertz Jesu Christi] to hide my selfe therein. 1907 8 Sept. 20/2 Above the altar hung two banded hearts of blue and white forget-me-nots, from which depended by streamers and love hearts of tulle a floral wedding belle of white tuberoses. 1990 10 Feb. 5/4 Love Consultants will erect a giant loveheart sign outside the house of the admiree. 2002 R. Watson in A. Cattanach iv. 95 She always drew love hearts. 1650 L. Lawrence 6 Night in her Love-hood..Enters (the friendly crowd) attyr'd in Jet. 1663 R. Boyle (1664) 198 Such a kind of Transparency, as that of a Sive, a piece of Cyprus, or a Love-Hood. 1747 M. Delany (1861) II. 478 I shall make no more dark things; after three months black silk is worn with love hood. 1861 19 Mar. 5/5 The ladies to wear black silk, plain muslin or long lawn, crepe or love hoods. 1893 B. Tuckerman 151 The scarlet petticoat was to go to Gertruyd, the black love-hood to Annetje. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > love-stories > instance > theme-episode of society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > fiction > [noun] > plot > subject or theme > types of 1778 A. Ferguson Let. 7 Feb. in H. Mackenzie 117 I can conceive that the substitution of a love-interest for an interest of state, which the audience expected from the name of Alfred, may have baulked them. 1868 25 Sept. 7/3 The statement that Richardson has created the love interest of modern novels is only true in the sense that Richardson created the modern novel. 1892 H. James (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 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 iv. 38 The story of excitement or mystery usually has a ‘love interest’ tacked on to it. 1990 28 Oct. iv. 7/3 She usually plays ‘the love interest’. But she hopes that will change as movies take a feminine tilt. 2004 4 June 18/1 The love interest, needless to say, was not with Briseis, but with Patroclus. the mind > emotion > love > a lover > [noun] > male lover 1586 W. Webbe sig. Iiiii The Cornation that among the loue laddes wontes to be worne much. 1632 J. Vicars tr. Virgil i. 24 This love-lad [sc. Cupid] straight his mothers minde obeyes. 1907 19 Oct. 29/1 All along the willow-way My love-lad lies sleeping [i.e. dead]. the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > [noun] > amorous play c1330 (?a1300) (1886) l. 2020 Her loue laike þou bi hald For þe loue of me. the mind > emotion > love > a lover > [noun] > one who is loved or a sweetheart > specifically a female sweetheart or girlfriend 1594 R. Barnfield sig. Giiiv Helen, Maenelaus louing, lou'd, louelie, a loue-lasse, Till spight full Fortune from a loue-lasse made her a loue-lesse Wife. 1610 R. Niccols England's Eliza in (new ed.) Induct. 776 So soone as Tython's love-lasse gan display Her opall colours in her Easterne throne. the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > [noun] > amorous looks or demeanour ?c1225 (?a1200) (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 73 His echȝe aa bi hald þe ȝef þu makest..ani luuelates towart unðeawes. a1400 (Pepys) (1976) 38 Ȝiue me þi louelates, ȝe, to me and to non oþer. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > letter sent between lovers 1602 T. Dekker sig. E4v Sir Vau. I desire you to..read this Paper... Mini. Ile receiue no Loue libels perdy, but by word a mouth. the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [noun] > (an individual's) romantic involvements 1855 Dec. 657/2 The love-life of Weatherford, his dauntless gallantry, his marvelous personal adventures and hair-breadth escapes, and chief of all, his wonderful eloquence. 1919 M. K. Bradby 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’ 74 Ecclesiastics..called out to sanctify the love-life of our puny little George. 1959 A. Christie viii. 89 Even Games Mistresses may have their love lives. 1972 T. Ardies xiii. 140 He's the guy who's trying to break up my love life. 2004 May 70/4 After she successfully sorts out her boss's love life, she becomes a love trainer and puts her all into sussing other people's relationships. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > infatuation > as manifested by shining eyes 1833 H. Coleridge (song) 10 I cease not to behold The love-light in her eye. 1852 P. J. Bailey (ed. 5) 189 Her bright heart With lovelight glowed. 1907 17 May 2/3 In your dew-bright eyes,..Love-light shone beaming. 1950 N. Coward Sail Away in B. Day (1998) 263/2 When the love-light is fading in your sweetheart's eye, Sail away—sail away. 1988 19 Mar. 4/1 Kylie: is that a lovelight in her eyes? the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual desire > [noun] > sexual affection c1390 in C. Brown (1924) 178 Þat is Marie, Moder fre..A loue-likyng is come to me To serue þat ladi. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus (BL Add.) f. 259 In alle bestes is appetit of loue lykynge. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer (Hengwrt) l. 138 Of romances that been reales Of Popes and of Cardynales And eek of loue-liking. 1579 T. North tr. Plutarch 1116 Sometimes she [sc. Poppaea] woulde shut her dore against Nero..bicause she woulde keepe Nero in breath, and in loue liking still. a1662 H. Lawes (1669) ii. 20 Short Love liking may find Jars, the Love that lasteth knows no Wars. 1834 T. De Quincey Sketches Life & Manners in Mar. 93/1 Few men go, or can go, beyond a little love-liking, as it is called. 1880 J. Payne 2 I chide it for lack of love-liking. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > letter sent between lovers 1609 T. Heywood 221 Now I these Loue-lines write. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) ii. i. 77 To giue great Charlemaine a pen in's hand And write to her a loue-line . View more context for this quotation ?1668 T. Jordan Ep. sig. A2v Those days were spent in Love-lines, Drolls and Laughter. 1709 No. 40. 242 Shall this fresh ornament of the world, These precious love-lines, pass with other common things Amongst the wastes of time. 1914 H. Wales 263 I've been told that I have a very interesting left hand. The love line is in the left hand. 1977 16 Jan. 8/4 Little Bob looks up from Velda's love lines and takes a slug of Southern Comfort. 2006 (Nexis) 27 Oct. w12 The energy helps her interpret the lines of the palm, including the life line..and the heart or love line (from below the forefinger to below the pinky). society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > a marriage > [noun] > viewed as more or less advantageous > for love 1656 Duchess of Newcastle x. 346 A procuring Bawd is to make Love-matches, and contrive Love-meetings. 1749 H. Fielding V. xiii. viii. 70 This was a Love-Match, as they call it, on both Sides; this is, a Match between two Beggars. View more context for this quotation 1869 A. Trollope I. xxv. 194 It was little enough she got by marrying him... But it was a love-match. 1915 VIII. 450/1 The Kāmasūtra permits love matches generally. 1997 C. Shaw ix. 211 Folklore invariably presents the marriage of Malcolm and Margaret as a love match. 1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch 1312 Eudoxus..asked the reason, why Ceres had no charge and superintendance over Love matters [Fr. des amours, Gk. τῶν ἐρωτικῶν]. 1774 D. Turner iii. 149 I do in reality think it an injury done a parent..to carry a love matter so far as I have undoubtedly done, without at least asking his consent. 1868 E. Edwards I. xv. 299 She was somewhat precocious in love matters. 2007 (Nexis) 11 Feb. (Sports Final ed.) 37 Taurus... With love matters, stand up for yourself to avoid being taken advantage of. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > love-token or love-gift > coins broken in two as love-token 1837 1 141 The custom of breaking love-money as a pledge of fidelity. the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [noun] > secluded place for lovers > secluded retreat for (illicit) lovers society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > other dwelling places > [noun] > secluded or retreat 1853 A. Houssaye 222 His hand..had constructed in this palace, a graceful love-nest for his young wife. 1919 U. Sinclair 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 154 Nobody knew of his love-nest. 1972 ‘H. Howard’ ix. 124 Pamela and Frankie were sharing a love-nest at Lakeland Towers. 1999 C. Brookmyre (2000) 84 The bastard had been using the place as his own private, five-star love nest, and the skeleton staff on duty..had assumed she was his wife. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [adjective] > deeply in love 1622 T. Walkley tr. J. de Luna xvi. 184 I was so loue-nettled, that if they had asked me the Phœnix..I would haue giuen it them. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > letter sent between lovers > call or note as means of amorous communication 1795 J. Hunt 25 The noise resembling the beating of a watch, is only the love-note of these animals. 1840 C. Norton 205 The borrowed love-notes of thy echoing lyre. 1842 A. De Vere 56 Take back this paper To Him that sent it... When I have written A little love note on the other side. 1940 R. Graves 41 Dangerous it had been with love-notes To serenade Queen Famine. 1960 J. Kerouac Let. 14 Sept. in (1999) 263 I write the hostess a love note saying ‘I love you because you're a simple brunette.’ 2006 11 May 91/3 Tossed and forgotten items—love notes, missing-pet posters, grocery lists, etc. the mind > emotion > love > a lover > [noun] > object on which love is centred 1869 8 821/2 This love-object is a third person. 1916 Sept. 249 The child is now capable of the choice of a love-object accompanied by erotic feelings. 1925 J. Riviere et al. tr. S. Freud 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 vii. 137 When it became apparent that..as a love-object, I myself was unsatisfactory, she started on dogs. 1973 S. Fisher xv. 437 Orgasm difficulties were observed to be linked to concern about the instability or potential loss of love objects. 2003 12 May 37/2 A classic serial monogamist, Breton clung to the notion of l'amour fou, the idea of the one predestined love object. 1620 J. Lewis 104 By prayer we shall offer vp a loue-offering, sweet and delightfull to the Lord our God. 1791 J. White II. xxviii. 168 [A] tender lay, to be presented as a love-offering to the incomparable Celestina. 1893 16 Sept. The spokesman..presented the donations, and the parson..replied in a few touching and appropriate remarks. It was a love-offering from an appreciative people. 1935 19 Nov. 16/6 (advt.) We need £200,000 in gifts or legacies. Send your donation, your love-offering..to the Treasurer. 1968 7 29/2 Pentecostal financial activity is personal and reciprocal,..money is given as a ‘love-offering’ in direct proportion to the importance of the non-material gift that the donor feels he has received. 2006 (Nexis) 3 Nov. 38 What is the most exotic love offering ever made? In third place is Emperor Shah Jahan who built the Taj Mahal in memory of his favourite wife. a1627 T. Middleton (1657) i. 22 Peruse this love paper as you go. Mr Low. A Letter? the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [noun] > incident of amatory experience 1872 T. Hardy I. i. viii. 113 Good luck attended Dick's love-passes during the meal. He sat next Fancy. the mind > emotion > love > love affair > [noun] > incident of amatory experience 1661 v. 512 Some years after these enterchanges of love passages, Astratius of a sudden,..waved her company. 1821 W. Scott Kenilworth xvi, in (1831) XXII. 300 There had been some love passages betwixt him and Mistress Amy Robsart. 1845 C. M. Kirkland 106 No one..had ever been able to ascertain whether there had actually been any ‘love-passages’ between them or not. 1865 E. B. Tylor iii. 43 Love-passages of the gods and heroes. 1890 9 Sept. This Cousin Evelyn had had a horrible love passage with Fergus McIntire. 1930 3 July 7/2 Fifi engages in her first love passage with the fugitive, Murray. the mind > emotion > love > action of caressing > [noun] > light touch as token of endearment 1846 Mar. 211/1 Many of his subjects had a feeling sense of his royal grace and condescension, in the love-pats with which he honored them. 1876 C. D. Warner i. 24 Garibaldi received one of his wounds, a sort of love-pat of fame. 1931 E. A. Wetherald 244 A little love-pat. 1999 in A. Garrod et al. xvi. 273 I couldn't bring myself to return her touch. We never talked about what her ‘love pats’ were about. 1889 A. Conan Doyle xxxiv. 377 You are like the same ship when the battle and the storm have..torn the love-pennants from her peak. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > potion or drug used to promote love the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [noun] > potion or drug to promote love 1665 J. Crowne 2 A lip-sick Lover, who with quaint Rhetorications can paint his Mistress face..and think her tears love philters. 1834 E. Bulwer-Lytton I. i. ii. 17 The very air seems to have taken a love philtre, so handsome does every face without a beard seem in my eyes. 1921 E. L. White i. v. 74 She had a local reputation for magical powers in the way of spells..love philtres, fortune-telling..and good advice on all subjects. 1995 50/1 (advt.) Cupids [sic] Dart... Violet, daisy-like flowers with dark centers. The name refers to the Greek custom of using the plant in love philters. a1645 W. Strode (1655) iv. xiii. sig. E3/2 Sir Amorous buyes a Love-pill. 1859 vi. 45 Were an enterprising Yankee permitted to advertise ‘Love Pills’..in one year he would amass a fortune. 1931 24 Mar. 5/3 Balanescu was convicted of the sensational ‘love pill killing’ of Dorothy Kirk... The state alleged he fed the girl strange ‘love potions’ in a series of weird medical experiments until she died. 1968 T. Leary v. 100 Mind-altering chemicals... The scientist has to take the love pill. 1998 (Nexis) 21 July (Features section) 22 Our man..gives his verdict on the revolutionary love pill. My girlfriend Claire and I have a satisfying love life—but I couldn't turn down the chance to road-test Viagra. 2006 (Nexis) 19 Aug. 5 (heading) Once..the drug of choice at rave parties and city nightclubs but now the love pill has come home. the mind > emotion > love > courtship or wooing > [noun] the mind > emotion > love > action of caressing > [noun] > sexual caressing c1390 in F. J. Furnivall (1901) 474 Sore I seo þe buye Al my loue-plawe. 1651 J. Ellistone tr. J. Böhme xiii. 158 All things were in equal weight of all the properties in a Love-play, as it is even so now in Paradise. a1672 P. Sterry (1683) 291 Thus Death becometh a Love-play between Christ, and his Spouse. 1821 Ld. Byron (2nd issue) Pref. p. xx A tragedy of the highest order, and not a puling love-play. 1849 Dec. 523 It was during the interlude of this dramatic love-play, that the editor of the Omni-Versus..returned to New-York. 1879 24 June 10/3 The love play of Perdican and Camille, which ends so sadly and so suddenly in poor little Rosette's heartbroken cry. 1944 T. Rattigan 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 55 Adult heterosexuality presents fewer problems where early love play is tolerated than where it is suppressed. 1978 D. E. Stanford iii. 169 Christian Captives is primarily a love play. 1997 22 Eroticism in its religious reference venerates love play and the sexual act as divine. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > potion or drug used to promote love the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [noun] > potion or drug to promote love a1586 Sir P. Sidney (1593) v. f. 242v The drinke he had receiued, was neither..a loue potion, nor..a deadly poyson. 1647 R. Stapleton in tr. Juvenal 85 (margin) Philters or love-potions. 1787 G. Gregory tr. R. Lowth II. iii. xxxi. 344 Mandrake was of especial efficacy in love potions. 1868 2 186 The flower is fleshy and fragrant, and the native doctors in India use it as a sort of love-potion. 1931 R. A. Firor v. 115 Legends of the mandrake and of the ‘Hand of Glory’ are closely connected with love-potions. 2004 3 Nov. 7/1 A modern love potion for women..contains herbs reputed for centuries to have aphrodisiac qualities. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > potion or drug used to promote love the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > enchantment or casting spells > [noun] > potion or drug to promote love 1592 R. Greene sig. C4v He will perswade you hee hath twentie receiptes of Loue powders. 1623 J. Webster v. ii. sig. L4 Confesse to me Which of my women 'twas you hyr'd, to put Loue-powder into my drinke? 1678 S. Butler iii. i. 39 When he's with Love-powder laden, And Prim'd, and Cock'd by Miss, or Madam. 1742 J. Yarrow 14 There are Things call'd Charms, Bribes, and Love-Powder. 1840 F. M. Trollope xii. 125 I don't know what love-powder you have been scattering amongst us, but there is not a single individual of the family who does not positively dote upon you. 1941 (Federal Writers' Project) 99 To make a love powder, catch live humming birds, gut them without first killing them, dry the heart and powder it. 2004 L. Erdrich (2005) ix. 110 Love powders sometimes double back and land upon their maker, which is why an expert is always required in their use. 1990 (Nexis) 4 Feb. In the place of glowing welcomes..were headlines baring:..‘love rat snubs his kid’. 1996 (Nexis) 19 Feb. 17 [He] was branded a love rat after rumours of an affair with his wife's best pal. 2003 C. Hopkins 136 ‘Love rat.’ ‘That's a joke,’ I said. ‘I've only ever snogged three girls.’ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > ornamental textiles > ornamental trimmings > [noun] > ribbon > specific 1666 in W. M. Myddelton 8 Jan. (1908) I. 140 3 doz. of love 2d Rib. 6s, 6 doz of 1d love Riben 6s. 1790 L. Paradise Let. 26 Sept. in T. Jefferson (1965) XVII. 520 I will Mourn..Three Months in Black Silk and love Ribbons. 1882 S. F. A. Caulfeild & B. C. Saward 330/1 Love-Ribbon..was employed to tie on Crape Hat-bands when worn at funerals, and is now occasionally worn by ladies in their caps. 1911 A. M. Earle 197 Among the ribbons advertised in the middle of the eighteenth century were paduasoy ribbons, love ribbons,..and..liberty ribbons. 2003 J. Flanders (2004) x. 333 Mutes, also with staffs, which had a ‘love ribbon’ tied on each one, in black normally, or in white for a young girl. 1600 B. Jonson ii. iii. sig. Gv Offer no loue-rites, but let wiues still seeke them, For when they come vnsought, they seldome like them. View more context for this quotation a1754 W. Hamilton (1850) 25 Averse she fled The pleasing love-rights of the marriage bed. 1857 H. Melville xxxix. 286 I have been deceived..in this man; he is no true friend that, in platonic love to demand love-rites? 1998 (Nexis) 21 Apr. a4 We asked whether she would similarly denounce the love rites of homosexuals. ?1710 (new ed.) 41 The Devil teaches them..to read Love Romances, and frequent Play-Houses. 1820 T. Hodgskin II. xiv. 448 The daughters were obliged to spin and sew; and..dared not read love-romances. 1903 Oct. 379/1 The first of these novels is a somewhat unreal and exaggerated love-romance of the Civil War. 2001 V. I. Braginsky 41 The text of the religious Canon includes fragments in various genres: religious sermons..heroic epics..and love romances (the story of Yusuf and Zulaykha). the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > tale or song of love a1300 in C. Brown (1932) 68 A Mayde cristes me bit yorne þat ich hire wurche a luue-ron. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > tale or song of love c1225 (?c1200) (Royal) (1981) 49 Nalde heo..nane luue runes leornin ne lustnin. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > love-stories > instance > interview between lovers in 1639 P. Massinger iii. iii. sig. G2v I will bring you Where you..may see The love-scæne acted. 1749 J. Cleland I. 72 To..a recital of the love-scene, I had..been spectatress of. 1818 13 183 Love-scenes..which both French and English writers..regard as absolutely essential to their drama. 1850 J. Hannay I. i. iii. 35 Circe resumed a love-scene between Adèle and the tender forçat. 1932 R. Campbell 37 Read his [sc. Shaw's] miserable love-letters (published) and his ‘love-scene’ between Caesar and Cleopatra. 1999 T. Parsons (2000) xxxii. 279 Charlie wanted to fast forward over the love scenes and moments of reflection and get straight to the combat. 1877 W. Jones 21 The impress being two human heads..the prototype of the numerous ‘love seals’ of a later period. society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > furniture and fittings > seat > sofa or couch > [noun] > for two persons 1847 19 Dec. 3/5 (advt.) Sofas and love seats, and convenient occasional chairs, all in the loveliest colors. 1904 P. Macquoid I. ix. 220 Double chairs or love-seats. 1915 F. W. Burgess 205 Such settees which closely resemble an adaptation of two single chairs, are commonly called ‘love-seats’. 1970 Dec. 21/1 A Victorian love seat Mr. Daniel saw being hauled away in a garbage truck. 1973 ‘D. Halliday’ x. 151 Johnson..kissed her, and then..found a love seat and dropped there beside her. 2006 5 Jan. 23/3 They were the first to carry three sofa sizes: the standard three-seater, the ‘mini’ sofa and the love seat. 1523 J. Fitzherbert ix. f. 9v But and he [sc. 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. 1656 T. Blount (at cited word) There is Bond-socome,..and Love-Socome. [Also in later dictionaries.]] the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > love-token or love-gift > spoon presented to one's intended wife 1891 29 Oct. 1/3 The latest outbreak of the souvenir spoon mania is a ‘love spoon’. The bowl is heart shaped and of bright gold. 1918 W. R. Butterfield in Aug. 191/1 At first,..love-spoons did not differ greatly from the wooden spoons in ordinary use in the household. 1968 J. Arnold 193 The Welsh carvers..produced a great deal of fine work, amongst which were the celebrated love-spoons. 1972 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. 2005 Jan. 66/3 An ancient craft and a cultural symbol, the Welsh lovespoon is a token traditionally given by a young man to his beloved. Locked within each design is a special message. the mind > emotion > love > flirtation or coquetry > [noun] > amorous play 1598 G. Chapman sig. C3 So maddam I leaue you now from our loue sportes. 1605 G. Chapman i. i Where I am cloyde, And being bound to loue sports, care not for them. a1672 P. Sterry (1675) ii. 159 They lie naturally and nakedly in the bosom of each other, according to their Divine Love-sport and play in the Palace of their Father. 1726 tr. ‘D. P. E.’ 270 Amorous Riddles..are no small addition to the variety of Love Sports. 1857 J. A. Heraud (rev. ed.) i. ii. iii. 59 They gambolled in the love-sport, like with like. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > love-stories > instance society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > other fictional narrative > [noun] > stories with specific subject 1594 T. Nashe sig. E4 Not a litle was I delighted with this vnexpected loue story. 1624 P. Massinger i. iii. sig. B4 They cannot..Vsher vs to our Litters, tell loue Stories. 1781 T. Warton III. xxi. 57 This was the most favorite love-story of our old poetry. 1822 J. Clare 5 Nov. (1985) 250 I keep writing on with my love story & think worse & worse of it as I proceed. 1890 J. M. Barrie xxiii. 190 The tragedy..is led up to by a pathetic love-story. 1938 E. Goudge (1998) xvi. 343 That famous love story, so wrapped up in legend now that it was hard to disentangle truth from falsehood. 2002 25 Feb. 62/2 Crossroads and A Walk to Remember are old-fashioned chick flicks, one a gal-bonding movie, the other a love story. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > love-stories > instance society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > other fictional narrative > [noun] > stories with specific subject 1592 T. Nashe (Huntington Libr. copy) sig. F2v Is it..fine grace in telling of a loue tale amongst Ladies, can make a man reuerenst of the multitude? 1633 J. Shirley v. I 2 b Forgetting all their legends, and Loue tales Of Venus, Cupid, and the scapes of Joue. 1667 J. Milton i. 452 The Love-tale Infected Sions daughters with like heat. View more context for this quotation 1773 R. Graves I. iii. v. 135 She has not been entertained with a single love-tale. 1802 J. Ritson I. p. vii The love-tales of Longus, Heliodorus, and Xenophon of Ephesus. 1933 I. Gershwin Luckiest Man in World in (1993) 198/1 It's quite the perfect love tale; In ev'ry way we dovetail. 1998 (Nexis) 13 Feb. 28 This bitter-sweet love tale from Hong Kong seems an unlikely mood-enhancer at first. the mind > emotion > love > action of caressing > [noun] > light touch as token of endearment 1829 82 I verily believe he would have spent half the night in mustering up the requisite courage for a gentle love-tap. 1889 ‘M. Twain’ xxxiii. 426 When I make up my mind to hit a man, I don't plan out a love-tap. 1988 M. Cohen 135 He made a mock fist and hit me on the chest, one of those little love-taps men give to each other. 2002 (National ed.) 22 Nov. b17/2 The dramatic information is slipped into the movie with devastating panache: a love tap delivered with the force of a speeding car. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > pledge of love c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon (Calig.) (1963) 86 For he heo heuede swiþe ilofeð [read ilofed], & luf-þing hire biheite. the mind > emotion > love > action of caressing > [noun] > light touch as token of endearment 1493 (c1410) (Pynson) x. viii. I iij b Yt mischeif is noo curse but a louetyk of god. 1635 F. Quarles iii. vi. 146 Her frownes..may chance to show An angry love-trick [read -tick] on his arme, or so. 1869 A. Maclaren 2nd Ser. iv. 71 I can shut it out, sealing my heart love-tight against it. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > [noun] > amorous inclination 1580 J. Lyly (new ed.) f. 66 I am nowe olde, yet haue I in my head a loue tooth. 1909 21 June 1/1 Two yellow men and the pretty 20 year old missionary girl..form the love triangle the police have uncovered. 1924 I. Gershwin Not so long Ago in (1993) 41/1 If you want my angle on the love triangle, I'm for no front-headline stunts. 1999 S. L. Kasfir iv. 116 One source of conflict for these women is the love triangle—husband, wife and girlfriend (or husband, older wife and new wife). 2004 D. Klinger v. 230 It turned out to involve three guys that were living together, with some type of love triangle. 1835 27 May 3/1 (advt.) Black Love Veils! A large and splendid article for mourning, rec'd. this day at May 27. 1864 29 Sept. 2/5 Black Love-Veils, very fine. 1889 Oct. 696/1 I'd rip up an' press an' clean ladies' dresses, an' do over their crape an' love veils. 1789 E. Darwin 93 The squab Fiend..Seeks some love-wilder'd Maid with sleep oppress'd. 1875 W. B. Scott 39 Love-wildered, I had lost my head. 1946 ‘S. O'Sullivan’ 64 Your noble silence shames my wronging thought, And all the doubts and vain imaginings wrought In the dim ways of this love-wildered brain. the mind > emotion > love > courtship or wooing > [noun] ?a1300 Dame Sirith 375 in G. H. McKnight (1913) 17 Leue dame, if eni clerc Bedeþ þe þat loue-werc, Ich rede þat þou grante his bone. 1673 J. Dryden iv. iii. 46 She's most confoundedly ugly. If ever we had come to Love-work, and a Candle had been brought us, I had faln back from that face, like a Buck Rabbet in coupling. 1813 ‘T. Brown’ 23 The Marchesa and he..Have taken much lately to whispering in doorways;..And a house such as mine is, with door-ways so small, Has no room for such cumbersome love-work at all! 1936 G. J. Nathan (1970) iii. 44 It is Juliet again who has to do the love work. C7. In names of plants and animals. 1847 J. O. Halliwell Love-bind, the herb travellers'-joy. 1886 J. Britten & R. Holland 315 Love-bind. Clematis Vitalba. 1937 25 July c-d 2/1 He can put up with love-bugs, kissing-bugs and lady-bird beetles from spring until frost. 1970 53 23 My first encounters with the ‘love-bugs’ were in south Louisiana in the mid-1930's. 2004 C. Bateman xxxi. 305 A pair of love bugs were mating on our windscreen. A few days ago I would have put the wipers on and squished them. Now I let them be. the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > parasitic plants > [noun] > dodder 1814 J. Lunan I. 266 Cuscuta Americana... The negroes of Liguanea mountains call it love-bush. 1904 6 Aug. 7/2 Oh, the wealth of blossom the love bush had once borne! 1954 (Jamaica Agric. Soc.) 582 The common Love-bushes of Jamaica comprise about four species of Cuscuta. 1986 O. P. Adisa 16 Her eyes stare at the hedges of love-bush, the seeds of which Carol scattered a few months ago when asking for Richard's love. the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > [noun] > meadow grass 1702 J. Petiver in (Royal Soc.) 23 1257 What is peculiar in this Love-grass is its having just under each spike, its stalk clammy. 1855 G. Emerson (new ed.) 737/2 Love-grass... It is a pretty species of foreign grass, growing in gardens about a foot high in any common soil. 1945 J. M. Fogg 42 Fields solidly occupied by Purple Lovegrass are a conspicuous and attractive feature of the autumn landscape. 2000 6 Nov. 4 (caption) Refuge planner Bonnie Swarbrick walks through a field of healthy—but non-native—Lehmann lovegrass. the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Psittaciformes (parrots, etc.) > [noun] > miscellaneous types of 1889 Love-parrakeet, a love-bird. the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Psittaciformes (parrots, etc.) > [noun] > miscellaneous types of 1852 115 The little love- parrot sits beside his mate, and feeds her. 1889 Love-parrot, a love-bird. 1864 T. L. Phipson vii. 155 Other species of Cypræa known..by the English as ‘Love-shells’, are used as ornaments, etc. the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > [noun] > Judas-tree 1760 J. Lee App. 317 Tree of Love, Cercis.] 1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore II. 697/1 Love-Tree. Cercis siliquastrum. 1889 20 Aug. 1/8 In the Allegheny City green-house is a rare tropical plant called the ‘love-tree.’ Its fruit blends the flavor of the peach, the pine apple and other sweet fruits. 2005 (Nexis) 27 Aug. (Mag.) 32 A species with which to catch out your know-all horticultural friends is Cercis siliquastrum... It's also called the love tree. Could it be because of its heart-shaped leaves? the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > parasitic plants > [noun] > dodder 1833 A. Eaton (ed. 6) 116 Cuscuta americana, dodder, love-vine. 1885 A. Brassey 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. 1935 48 333 If you get a section of love vine and move it to another place, name it after the person about whom you want to know whether he or she is a lover of yours or not, and if the vine lives, the person does love you; if the vine dies, he or she does not. 1974 29 Sept. 39/6 I came across several plants entwined with dodder, otherwise known as love-vine. And love plants it does! It smothers them to death with its long golden strands. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022). loven.2 Origin: Of unknown origin. Etymology: Origin unknown. Chiefly English regional ( East Anglian). the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > cooking vessel or pot > [noun] > spit > for smoking or drying > beam supporting 1865 W. White I. 146 These open partitions or racks are called ‘loves’. They support the speets, which are sticks or laths, long enough to lie across from one to the other. 1880 253/1 The smoke-room..having a series of wooden frames reaching from floor to roof, with small transverse beams, called ‘loves’. 1895 A. Patterson 44 A savoury bloater, fresh down from the ‘loves’, is engrossing our own attentions. 1962 W. Granville 73/2 Loves, wooden splines in a herring curing loft on which the fish are suspended to dry. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022). lovev.1 Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: love n.1 Etymology: < love n.1Very occasional forms in late Old English with o as stem vowel (compare the past tense form lofodest ) may perhaps show the influence of forms of love v.2, perhaps as a result of semantic association between the two words. In early Middle English forms with o are also very occasionally found in sources which do not usually show o as a spelling for u , although in the vast majority of cases in Middle English o is simply a spelling for (the vowel) u before (the consonant) u in order to reduce confusion of minim strokes. Some of the senses at sense 2 are similar to senses shown by Germanic cognates of love v.2, but this is perhaps entirely coincidental; certainly, the majority of the Old English and early Middle English forms evidenced in these senses seem clearly to show this word and not love v.2 In Old English the prefixed form gelufian also occurs. 1. the mind > emotion > love > [verb (transitive)] > bear love to (a person or personal object) the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > have liking for [verb (transitive)] > like very much eOE (Mercian) (1965) xvii. 1 (2) Diligam te domine uirtus mea, domine firmamentum meum et refugium meum : ic lufiu ðe dryhten megen min dryhten trymenis min & geberg min. ?a1160 (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1137 He makede manie munekes & plantede winiærd & makede mani weorkes..& wæs god munec & god man, & forþi him luueden God & gode men. a1225 (c1200) (1888) 67 (MED) Scal ic luuiȝe ðane euele mann? a1325 (c1250) (1968) l. 2042 An litel stund quhile he [sc. Joseph] was ðer, So gan him luuen ðe prisuner. a1400 (a1325) (Vesp.) l. 2328 Þis abram..Ful wel was luued wit god of heuen. a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve (Harl. 4866) (1897) 1260 God in holy writ seith..‘Whom so I loue, hym wole I chastyse.’ 1488 (c1478) Hary (Adv.) (1968–9) xi. l. 725 I sall, quhill I may leiff, Low ȝow fer mar than ony othir knycht. 1489 (a1380) J. Barbour (Adv.) i. 360 All men lufyt him for his bounte. 1548 f. ccxxxiiiiv I loue hym as my brother, and take hym as my frende. a1600 A. Montgomerie x. 45 Love nane bot vhare thou art lude. 1653 I. Walton 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. View more context for this quotation 1703 II. vi. 160 He..lov'd his Country with too unskilful a tenderness. 1769 O. Goldsmith I. 432 Caesar..was loved almost to adoration by his army. 1856 J. A. Froude (1858) I. ii. 128 A man who loved England well, but who loved Rome better. 1885 13 Nov. 883 Our nation is not much loved across the Atlantic. 1915 J. Turner Let. 19 Apr. in C. Warren (2019) 6 I personally am so loving you for the ripping things..matches, for example, quite invaluable. 1926 M. Lowry Let. 29 Apr.–2 May in (1995) I. 21 I hope you don't mind my writing like this: but I love you for the thumping good sort you are to let me even be friends. 1931 T. F. Powys (1974) ii. 10 Mr. Hayhoe learned to love others more than himself. 1970 L. Meriwether 203 I loved all of Harlem gently and didn't want to be Puerto Rican or anything else but my own rusty self. 1990 A. L. Kennedy 3 I should have said that when he ran, and he often did, he ran like nobody else and I loved him for that. 2000 H. Simpson (2001) 92 She loved her children more than life itself. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > be in love or infatuated with [verb (transitive)] OE (Claud.) xxiv. 67 Isaac gelædde Rebeccan in to Sarran getelde, hys modor, & underfeng hi to wife, & lufode hi swa swyðe, þæt he ðæt sar forgeat, þe him on hys modor deaðe gelamp. OE Wærferð tr. Gregory (Corpus Cambr.) (1900) iii. vii. 189 On æfentid ic geteah his mod to þon, þæt he lufode mid his bradre hand þa nunnan & ofer þa sculdru geþaccode. lOE King Ælfred tr. St. Augustine (Vitell.) (1922) i. 43 Gyf ðu hwilc ænlic wif lofodest swiðe ungemetlice ofer æalle oððer þing, and heo..nolde þe lufian on nan oðer gerað, butan þu woldest ælce oðer lufe aletan for hyre anre lufe, woldest þu þonne swa don swa heo wylnode? c1175 (Burchfield transcript) l. 6178 Þin macche birrþ þe lufenn wel. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon (Calig.) (1963) l. 258 Þa luuede he a maide..mid darnscipe he heo luuede. c1325 (c1300) (Calig.) l. 9549 In som þing Þe quene louede as me wende more him þan þe king. c1380 (1879) 1408 (MED) A knyȝt þar was of fraunce þat sche hadde longe y-loued. a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng (Harl.) l. 7434 (MED) Foul ys þat lust and þat peryl, To loue here þat al men go tyl. a1470 T. Malory (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) I. 359 I love hir abovyn all ladyes lyvynge. 1487 (a1380) J. Barbour (St. John's Cambr.) x. 554 I..lufit ane vench her in the toune. 1567 in J. Cranstoun (1891) I. iv. 15 Lancit with luif she luid me by all wycht. 1596 E. Spenser vii. vi. 44 Shee had..Long loved the Fanchin, who by nought did set her. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1622) iv. i. 110 I neuer knew a woman loue man so. View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton ix. 832 So dear I love him, that with him all deaths I could endure. View more context for this quotation 1711 A. Ramsay iii To bonny lasses black or brown, As we loo'd best. 1796 R. Burns in J. Johnson V. 415 And I can love thee still, my Dear, Till a' the seas gang dry. 1859 Ld. Tennyson Elaine in 182 If I love not him, I think there is none other I can love. 1882 J. Hawthorne (1883) i. xxix It was intrusively apparent..that Sir Stanhope loved the girl without stint. 1911 M. Beerbohm iii. 33 He loved her, and he could not help seeing her... Inexpellable was her image. 1943 K. Amis c26 Oct.–6 Nov. (2000) 10 My parting with Betty was heart-breaking, because we love each other. 1975 28 Apr. 66/3 Lowering her eyes with an air of anguish when I asked her what had happened to her affair with the man she said she had loved. 2000 A. Maxted in J. Adams et al. 430 I think that some people grow to love one another. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > be in love [verb (intransitive)] c1230 (?a1200) (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 209 Nu [?read Ne] con þes luuien [a1250 Titus luue] þe þus spekeð & þus deð. a1300 in C. Brown (1932) 117 (MED) Nis non maiden under sunne..þat swo derne louiȝe kunne. a1400 (a1325) (Vesp.) l. 4510 (MED) Qua leli luues [a1400 Fairf. louys], for-gettes lat [a1400 Fairf. noȝt]. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer (Hunterian) (1891) l. 85 Hard is the hert that loueth nought In May. c1475 (?c1400) (1842) 3 (MED) If he be conuicted not to luf, ne to do þe office of Crist, in þis he is conuict not to be his vicar. 1528 W. Tyndale f. xxx We can not love except we see some benefete. 1568 Christis Kirk on Grene in W. T. Ritchie (1928) II. 262 He wald haif luvit scho wald not lat him. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1622) v. ii. 353 One that lou'd not wisely, but too well. View more context for this quotation 1649 R. Baxter (new ed.) 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 25 Apr. (1965) I. 30 I can esteem, I can be a freind, but I don't know whether I can Love. 1770 J. Armstrong iii. i. 57 Sure you have never loved. 1850 Ld. Tennyson xxvii. 44 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. View more context for this quotation 1889 Aug. 416/1 Still sweeter was it to feel that, deeply as she loved, she was loved as deeply. 1920 C. Carswell i. vii. 126 ‘It is easy enough to fall in love, my childie,’ Juley had said, ‘but to love wisely is sometimes very hard.’ 1968 D. Moraes vi. 110 For the first time I saw her as a person, who thought, felt, had lived and loved and borne a child. 2002 23 Dec. 18/2 The actors are so convincing as callow, gorgeous young self-dramatizers that you wonder if they aren't too immature to love. the mind > emotion > love > [verb (intransitive)] > love in return 1340 (1866) 145 (MED) Mochil is grat scele þet we to-gidere louie. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden (St. John's Cambr.) (1871) III. 373 It is spedful þat frendes love wel. a1425 (a1400) (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 1849 (MED) Þe body and þe saul with þe lyfe Lufes mare samen þan man and hys wyfe. a1470 T. Malory (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 1045 They loved togydirs more hotter than they dud toforehonde. 1569 R. Grafton I. vii. 173 They loued after, as two brethren, during their naturall lyues. a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iv. vii. 149 Let them kisse one another: For they lou'd well When they were aliue. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) iv. ii. 183 Loue, and be Friends. View more context for this quotation 1653 J. Rogers ii. v. 334 For shame let us love and live together as Saints. 1727 W. Somervile 195 Then let us love, my Fair,..Each join a willing heart. 1790 W. Cowper 15 Oct. (1982) III. 424 The day of separation, between those who have loved long and well, is an awful day. 1792 R. Burns in J. Johnson IV. 358 Had we never lov'd sae kindly. a1849 E. A. Poe Annabel Lee in (1969) I. 477 We loved with a love that was more than love—I and my Annabel Lee. 1887 F. W. L. Adams 66 Thus, then, they loved, and all the summer days Love stayed with them. 1918 G. Frankau (1923) xxxiii. 180 The game's played out between us—Good luck or bad. Nitchevo, Lady Jill. We loved: we part. 1939 W. Everson 17 My father..met the woman, my mother, and met her again in another place, and they loved and were wed. a1470 T. Malory (Winch. Coll. 13) (1990) II. 493 The good love that I have lovyd you. 1673 J. Dryden i. i. 1 We lov'd, and we lov'd, as long as we cou'd, Till our love was lov'd out in us both. 1678 J. Dryden All for Love ii, in (1883) V. 369 We have loved each other Into our mutual ruin. the mind > emotion > love > amorous love > be in love or infatuated with [verb (transitive)] 1597 M. Drayton f. 1 v True loue is simple, like his mother Truth, Kindlie affection, youth to loue with youth. 1665 R. Brathwait 96 That they may have Husbands Meek, to live with, Young, to love with, and Fresh, to lie with. c1693 J. Howe in (1704) III. 370 To love with Princes is to gain their Ear. 1883 R. W. Dixon i. iii. 7 He was so gentle and so fair a knight, Who loved with Blanche. the mind > emotion > love > embrace > [verb (transitive)] > embrace affectionately the mind > emotion > love > action of caressing > caress or fondle [verb] 1877 J. Habberton 31 I was only a-lovin' you, cos you was good, and brought us candy. 1889 July 271/2 Putting his arms round her neck, [he] ‘loved’ her with his cheek against hers. 1893 O. Schreiner 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. 1916 25 Nov. 7/1 The very idea of a man thinking that any self-respecting girl would want to be ‘loved up’..and slobbered over by every Tom, Dick and Harry. 1921 J. Dos Passos ii. iii. 83 You said you were goin' back and love up that goddam girl. 1928 6 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 167 Why don't you give her a hug..love her up a bit? 1957 J. Braine xix. 166 If you love me up, I'll be as warm as toast. 1968 M. Allwright ix. 59 I never meant any harm; it was just as if he was a puppy I was loving up. 1999 July 75/1 In bed, Sol loved her up and she took him and held him and loved him back. 2. transitive. With a thing as object. the mind > emotion > love > [verb (transitive)] > be strongly attached to (a thing) OE (Northumbrian) xii. 25 Qui amat animam suam perdet eam : seðe lufað sauel his spildeð uel losað hia. OE tr. Bili 48 For þon þis idel lif nan þing elcor þam þe hit lufaþ byt nemþe synne. a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris (1868) 1st Ser. 15 Þu aȝest luuan heore saule for cristes luue. c1400 (?c1390) (1940) l. 2368 Bot for ȝe lufed your lyf; þe lasse I yow blame. a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve (Harl. 4866) (1897) 462 Lordes, if ye your estat and honour Louen, fleemyth this vicius errour! ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden (Harl. 2261) (1879) VII. 25 The erle..preide her as sche luffed hir lyfe that sche scholde schewe..deformite in vesture. 1530 J. Palsgrave 735/1 No man styrre and he love his lyfe. 1588 A. Munday tr. C. Colet xlii. sig. Aa.iv I beseech ye as you loue your honor and renowme. 1649 R. Lovelace 3 I could not love thee (Deare) so much, Lov'd I not Honour more. 1661 A. Marvell Let. 15 June in (1971) II. 30 As you loue your own affairs,..be pleased to let me..know your minds in these points. 1701 C. Gildon ii. i. 15 Forbear to touch 'em, as you love your Life. 1766 A. Nicol 115 I love my honour and good name. 1852 Ld. Tennyson in 7 Feb. 85/1 We are not cotton-spinners all, But some love England and her honour yet. 1876 W. Marston i. ii. 15 I love my freedom, And you may soon persuade me..To think a single life the best of fates. 1918 H. Lawson With Dickens in (1963) 219 One who loved honour, wife, and truth, If nothing else besides. 1965 I. Feldman 32 Faithless, You have loved your lives too little. 1995 (Nexis) 27 Aug. 9 I don't know a thing about the man [sc. William Wallace], only that he loved liberty and the honour of the Scots. the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > have liking for [verb (transitive)] OE (Corpus Cambr.) xxiii. 6 Hig [sc. the scribes and the Pharisees] lufigeað þa fyrmystan setl on gebeorscypum, & þa fyrmystan lareowsetl on gesomnungum. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris (1873) 2nd Ser. 99 (MED) It warð on eches muð wat mete se he mest luuede. c1325 (c1300) (Calig.) l. 7698 (MED) Game of houndes he louede inou, & of wilde best. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer (Hengwrt) l. 12 He loued bet the Tauerne than the shoppe. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden (Harl. 2261) (1872) IV. 393 (MED) This Nero luffede gretely instrumentes musicalle. a1500 (?a1425) tr. (Lamb.) 113 (MED) Þis man ys lycherous, deceyuant, and loufand lecherye. 1535 Eccles. v. 9 He that loueth money, wil neuer be satisfied with money. 1611 Prov. xx. 13 Loue not sleepe, lest thou come to pouertie. View more context for this quotation a1640 J. Fletcher et al. Beggers Bush iv. v, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher (1647) sig. Mmv/2 I love a fat goose, as I love allegiance. 1690 J. Locke ii. xx. 113 When a Man declares..that he loves Grapes, it is no more, but that the taste of Grapes delights him. 1738 J. Swift 10 Colonel, Don't you love Bread and Butter with your Tea? 1747 H. Glasse i. 5 Some love a Pig brought whole to Table. 1801 G. Morris in J. Sparks (1832) III. 146 I respect the English nation highly, but I do not love their manners. 1817 W. Scott xviii She loved a book, and knew a thing or two. 1849 T. B. Macaulay I. iv. 447 The new king, who loved the details of naval business. 1859 J. R. Bartlett (ed. 2) 257 To Love, for to like. ‘Do you love pumpkin pie?’ 1913 H. Kephart 293 Your hostess, proffering apple sauce, will ask, ‘Do you love sass?’ 1917 J. Buchan 41 My denty doo Has sell't hersel' for gowd and silken braws That weemen loe. 1940 J. Thurber Apr. (2002) 329 I took her to the Central Park zoo, which she has always loved. 1978 R. Rosenbaum in Mar. 280 The Command Balcony—I loved the lofty theatricality of the name. 2001 14 Jan. ix. 1 (heading) With the cell phone so last millennium, the hip-hop elite loves Motorola, while Gore and blue-chippers favor BlackBerry. OE Ælfric (Royal) (1997) x. 264 Gif we hine [sc. our heavenly home] habban willað, we sceolon lufian mildheortnysse & clænnysse, & soðfæstnysse, & rihtwisnesse, & eaðmodnysse. OE Wulfstan (Junius) 78 Eorlas and heretogan and ðas worulddeman and eac swa gerefan agan nydþearfe, þæt hi riht lufian for Gode and for worulde. c1225 (?c1200) (Royal) (1981) 194 Ȝef ha nalde leauen þet ha ȝet lefde, & hare lahe luuien. c1275 Kentish Serm. in J. Hall (1920) I. 216 We moue..luuie þo ilek þinkes þat he luued. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden (St. John's Cambr.) (1882) VIII. 25 He..loved wel pees and quyet. a1400 (a1325) (Vesp.) l. 20114 (MED) Ne luued scho notþer fight ne strijf. a1500 (?a1425) tr. (Lamb.) 122 Euer lowynge ryght and verite. 1567 (1897) 122 Thow luiffis treuth, gude Lord. 1653 I. Walton xiii. 246 All that hate contentions, and love quietnesse, and vertue, and Angling. View more context for this quotation 1685 T. Ken 57 O my God, O my Love, who dost love truth, and dost hate a lie. 1720 E. Ward iv. 44 How blest might ev'ry Station be, Would Men love Peace and Amitie! 1775 E. Burke (1844) II. 26 I love firm government. 1837 E. Bulwer-Lytton I. ii. i. 171 She was not a virtuous woman—but she felt virtue and loved it. 1875 A. Helps 59 He [sc. a man of business] must learn betimes to love truth. 1902 July 84 Universal humanity loves sharp practice. 1950 L. Fischer in R. Crossman 224 My years of pro-Sovietism have taught me that no one who loves people and peace should favour a dictatorship. 2003 (Nexis) 25 June 16 Perhaps the wishful thinking of some people on the Left, who hate America more than they love justice, led them to play down the threat. the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > approve of, accept, or sanction [verb (transitive)] eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory (Hatton) (1871) xxxiv. 231 Suiðe suiðe we gesyngiað, gif we oðerra monna welgedona dæda ne lufigað & ne herigað. OE (Claud.) vi. xxix. 254 La understande man georne, þæt eal swylc [sc. swicollice dæda & laðlice unlaga] is to leanne & næfre to lufianne. lOE (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 656 Ða andswerode seo kyning & þus cwæð: Saxulf la leof, ne þet an þet ðu geornest oc ealle þa þing þet ic wat þet ðu geornest on ure Drihtnes halfe, swa ic lufe & tyðe. lOE (Laud) (Peterborough interpolation) anno 656 And ic Oswi Norþhimbre kyning þeos mynstres freond & þes abbotes Saxulf hit loue mid Cristes mel... And we þes kyningas swustre Cyneburh & Cynesuith we hit louien. ?c1225 (?a1200) (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 153 Ful wil, þet fulðe wið schiles ȝettunge,..hunti þer efter, wið woȝeunge,..luue [c1230 Corpus Cambr. luuie, a1250 Nero luuien, a1400 Pepys sett] tide oðer stude for to cumen on swiche. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon (Calig.) (1963) l. 2071 Al his folc luuede [c1300 Otho louede] þene ræd. c1400 (?c1380) l. 173 (MED) I lovue þat we lay lotes on ledes vchone, & who-so lympes þe losse, lay hym þer-oute. 3. transitive. With clausal objects. the mind > emotion > pleasure > be pleased with [verb (transitive)] > take pleasure in or enjoy 1340 (1866) 254 (MED) Yef þou louest to bi sobre and atempre..wyþdraȝ þine willes. a1375 (c1350) (1867) 162 Ȝe þat louen & lyken to listen a-ni more. a1500 (?c1300) (Chetham) l. 82 He lovith not with me to rage. ?1530 She..loues to slepe at after none tyde. 1581 G. Pettie tr. S. Guazzo (1586) iii. 126 Those women that loue not to curle vp their haire roistinglie, but vse to kembe it downe smoothlie. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny I. 462 The Larch tree..loveth to grow in the same places. 1614 W. Raleigh i. v. iii. §15. 511 Yong men..loue to seeme wiser than their fathers. 1626 F. Bacon §703 Salmons and Smelts loue to get into Riuers, though it be against the Streame. 1705 F. Fuller 116 They don't love to be told the Truth, tho' it is ever so necessary. 1744 J. Thomson Spring in (new ed.) 19 Down to the River, in whose ample Wave Their little Naids love to sport at large. 1859 J. R. Bartlett (ed. 2) (at cited word) ‘I'd love to have that bonnet’. 1875 B. Jowett tr. Plato (ed. 2) I. 246 I love to hear you wise men talk. 1910 J. Buchan i. 7 The bay itself is ringed with fine clean sands, where we lads of the burgh school loved to bathe in the warm weather. 1955 O. Keepnews & W. Grauer xvi. 197 Nick Rongetti..loved to join the intermission pianist. 1973 ‘M. Innes’ iii. 29 Invite me as well. I'd love to meet the inamorato. 2005 T. Grandin & C. Johnson iii. 116 Normal baby pigs love to snuggle into each other. the mind > emotion > love > liking or favourable regard > have liking for [verb (transitive)] > derive pleasure from or approve of c1450 (c1400) (1908) 78 (MED) The emperour..myche loued playnge. 1545 R. Ascham f. 13 The best learned and sagest men in this Realme..both loue shoting and vse shoting. 1577 sig. Cvij Beggars loue brawling, And [wretches loue wrawling]. 1686 T. D'Urfey iii. i. 25 Nor do I love hunting other Creatures so well, but I had as lieve be hunted my self. 1732 in T. Fuller 216 They love dancing well, that dance barefoot upon thorns. 1794 R. Cumberland iii. iii. 29 Never quarrel, but I love fighting. 1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton II. v. 46 For the rest, he loved trotting better than cantering. 1862 L. M. Alcott Jrnl. Nov. in (1899) vii. 140 I love nursing, and must let out my pent-up energy in some way. 1911 M. Beerbohm 6 Dec. (1964) 211 You who..love being behind the scenes among T-lights and properties. 1957 I. Cross (1958) i. 8 I would love shooting and kicking out at my enemies, not giving a darn what they try to do to me. 2004 Mar. 175/2 I love doing stunts, so getting thrown out of a fourth-floor window..was a high point. the mind > will > wish or inclination > desire > [verb (transitive)] > something to be done c1475 (?c1451) 52 The said juge Boecius loved rightwisnesse to be kept. a1500 (?c1378) J. Wyclif (1880) 440 (MED) He louyde hem not to be worldly riche. 1637 S. Rutherford Let. 10 Feb. in (1664) 332 I love it to be grieved when he [sc. Christ] hideth his smiles. 1682 27 June 2/1 Our Whigs don't love Justice should be executed without 'em. 1753 S. Richardson IV. xxxiii. 225 When we are taken with any-body, we love they should be taken with us. 1924 July 367/1 Her grandmother loved for her to come to the story-hour because she retold the stories to the grandmother when she returned. 1967 E. Ginzberg viii. 166 I would love for them to go to college. 1971 T. Murphy ii. 51 We was waiting for you. We love you to jine (join ) us. 2005 22 June 13/3 ‘We'd love you to make our gift vouchers,’ UK-based surfwear label Kangaroo Poo told us. 1739 H. Baker & J. Miller tr. Molière iv. iii. 298 I love that Erastus should thus love me. a1795 B. Beddome (1822) I. iv. 22 This is what we desire..from an intimate friend. If he be at a distance, we love that he should remember us. a1802 H. Hunter (1804) I. xiii. 251 Nothwithstanding he loves that you should inquire after him, he enjoins you so to do. 1903 A. Conan Doyle i. 38 You must not care, Etienne. And yet I love that you should care all the same. 1978 J. Robinson 20 I..do what he tells me as fast and quiet as I can. I love that he doesn't look to see if I do it right. 2004 24 May 23/5 I doubt it will happen, but I love that people are thinking it's possible. the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > inhabit or colonize [verb (transitive)] a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus (BL Add.) f. 252 Þe tre þat bereþ thus groweþ wiþoute tilyinge & loueþ cley londe. 1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach i. f. 27 Wheate delighteth in a leuell, riche, warme, and a drye ground: a shaddowy, weedy, and a hilly ground, it loueth not. 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny I. 462 The Pitch-tree loveth the mountains and cold grounds [L. picea montes amat atque frigora]. 1658 R. Austen 7 I have knowne Rose-trees in a shady place, which have not bore at all, its a tree that loves the sunne. 1706 G. London & H. Wise I. ii. xi. 157 Fig-trees..love loose, hot ground. 1760 R. Brown 85 All sorts of pease love limed or marled land. 1774 O. Goldsmith IV. 22 Rabbits are found to love a warm climate, and to be incapable of bearing the cold of the north. 1798 C. Marshall (ed. 2) xix. 316 Willow herb..loves moisture. 1866 B. Taylor Proposal in 257 The violet loves a sunny bank. 1881 13 Aug. 381/2 Their gloomy recesses nourish only such plants as love thick shade. 1900 H. L. Keeler 319 Carpìnus caroliniàna... Common along the borders of streams and swamps, loves a deep moist soil. 1950 20 132/1 All blackbirds except the bronzed grackle love low wet ground. 1993 R. L. Zimdahl vi. 98 Acidophile (love acid soil, e.g., red sorrel, corn marigold). Phrases P1. a1225 (c1200) (1888) 139 (MED) Gladne ȝiuere luueð godd. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer (Hengwrt) (2003) §672 It is signe of a gentil herte whan a man loueth & desireth to haue a good name. a1475 How Good Wife wolde Pylgremage l. 36 in T. F. Mustanoja (1948) 174 (MED) He wyll low ys scheppys flesche, that wettytt his bred in woll. 1548 f. xvii The olde prouerbe, loue me litle and loue me longe. 1553 T. Wilson f. 100v A man maie loue his house wel, and yet not ride vpon the ridge. a1633 G. Herbert (1640) sig. A6v Love your neighbour, yet pull not downe your hedge. 1678 J. Ray (ed. 2) 238 To love at the door and leave at the hatch. 1721 J. Kelly 238 Love your Friend, but look to your self. 1853 R. C. Trench iii. 56 A man may love his house well without riding the ridge; it is enough for a wise man to know what is precious to himself, without..evermore proclaiming it to the world. 1907 8 Mar. 77/1 Mrs. Bellew is a lady who cannot love either little or long. She..tires very quickly of the men who are irrestistibly drawn to her. 1991 14 Feb. g3/5 ‘Love me a little less but longer’ is an old folk phrase. So is the observation that three things can't be hid: a cough, poverty and love. a1475 Friar & Boy (Brogyntyn) in J. O. Halliwell (1855) 62 In olde termys it is fownd He that lovythe me lovythe my hound. 1546 J. Heywood ii. ix. sig. Kiiii v Loue me, loue my dog. 1583 P. Stubbes sig. Pii It is a..saying amongst all men, borowed from ye french: Qui aime Iean, aime son chien, loue me, loue my dog. 1636 i. 98 One making love to a countrey woman, having first kickt her sow, she told him the Proverbe condemn'd him, love me, love my dog. 1769 II. 69 For, love me, love my dog; love freedom, and you must love the Free-Press. 1864 A. Trollope II. iii. 23 I shall [count you as my enemy],—certainly, if you attack Alice. Love me, love my dog. 1947 F. Utley iii. 72 ‘Love me, love my dog.’ General Hurley's mistake in thinking that he could be lacking in affection for the Chinese Communists without incurring the violent opposition of their masters was immediately apparent. 2006 (Nexis) 20 Nov. (FT Rep. section) 5 The..contract..was..a strategic imperative, despite the challenges... ‘It was a bit like love me, love my dog.’ P2. the mind > language > speech > request > [phrase] > other expressions a1616 W. Shakespeare (1623) ii. iii. 59 And you loue me, let's doo't. a1625 J. Fletcher Chances i. ix, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher (1647) sig. Aaa2v/2 No more words, Nor no more children, (good sonne) as you love me. 1655 A. Brewer iii To night? O fie upon't! an you love me Brother let it not be till to morrow morning, I beseech you. 1726 J. Mitchell & A. Hill iii. ix Good Courtney, as you love me, join Your Help, in what I now propose to do. 1778 G. Colman v. 43 No, as you love me, uncle! I will not eat it, if I do not fetch it. 1818 T. Carlyle (1886) 148 Send a letter quickly, an thou love me. 1823 J. F. Cooper i. i. 28 Natty—you need say nothing of the shot, nor of where I am going—remember, Natty, as you love me. 1880 25 Mar. Don't stare at him, ‘an' you love me’. 1917 ‘S. Rohmer’ 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. 1932 R. Macaulay i. vi. 40 If ever you see me wanting to lampoon a man I envy, Robin, bid me give over, if you love me.] the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > courtesy > courteous act or expression > courteous formulae [phrase] > expressions of leave-taking 1870 July 259/1 ‘I must love you and leave you.’ ‘So soon? But you will be coming again.’ 1885 R. Holland (1886) 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.’ 1922 H. V. Esmond ii. 43 Well, after this little social intercourse, I must love you and leave you. 1960 K. Amis ii. 36 I'm afraid I shall have to love you and leave you. 1995 A. Levy ix. 127 My aunt said, ‘Well, we're going to have to love you and leave you, I'm afraid.’ ‘So soon?’ my mum said. society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > unchastity > loss of chastity > fall from chastity (of woman) [verb (intransitive)] > attempt seduction > seduce and abandon women 1897 E. W. Wilcox I. 24 We love them, and leave them; deceive, and respect them. a1925 C. Porter (1983) (title of song) Love 'em and leave 'em. 1930 Dec. 92 Love'em and leave'em. 1938 W. G. Hardy 33 Love 'em and leave 'em; that was the idea. 1946 K. Tennant (1947) xvi. 259 I wouldn't try to keep me if I was you... Love me and let me leave. 1975 H. McCutcheon vii. 123 ‘I have many interests.’ ‘But no girls?.. You just love them and leave them, no?’ 1994 A. L. Reynolds ii. 13 If the norm in the black community is for young men to ‘love 'em and leave 'em’, it seems reasonable for the girl to retaliate. 1620 (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 A. Marvell Rehearsal Transpros'd i, in (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 S. Butler iii. i. 58 For these, you play at Purposes, And love your Loves with A's, and B's. 1769 H. Brooke IV. xvii. 168 The Play was introduced of, I love my love with an A because She's amiable, and so on through the Alphabet. 1813 T. Morton ii. i. 24 I love my love with a B, because he's bonny. 1864 C. Dickens (1865) I. ii. i. 168 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 is 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. 1894 A. B. Gomme I. 389 This [sc. Minister's Cat] is apparently the same game as the well-known ‘I love my love with an A because she is amiable’... Forfeits were exacted for every failure or mistake. 1912 L. J. Vance xv. 217 I love my love with a P because he's Perfectly Pulchritudinous and Possesses the Power of Pleasing. 1946 G. Finletter xv. 247 ‘I love my love with an A,’ began my aunt, ‘because he is amiable. I hate him because he is arrogant.’ 2007 (Nexis) 10 Feb. 78 One of you picks a letter of the alphabet (let's say ‘J’). You begin by saying ‘I love my love with a J’, and then think up all sorts of reasons why. You might continue: ‘Because he is Jolly, he wears a Jacket, [etc.]’. P4. the mind > emotion > love > with love from [phrase] > be blessed or loved the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > miscellaneous 1707 E. Ward II. ix. 6 For none e'er knew 'em rest, (God love 'em) Until they'd pull'd down all above 'em. 1762 D. Mallet 30 Lord love us, how we apples swim! 1792 H. H. Brackenridge vii. 28 God love your shoul, said he, dont be after bateing me. ?1800 S. T. Coleridge (1956) I. 568 As to the state of his mind, it is that which it was & will be. God love him! he has a most incurable Forehead. 1821 W. Scott I. i. 15 But, Heaven love you, Mr Mertoun, think what you are purposing. a1827 W. Hickey (1918) II. i. 10 Lord love your honour, to be sure I will. 1833 T. Hook II. vii. 140 Lord love your heart, sir—a path's never straight. 1841 E. Bulwer-Lytton II. ii. ix. 15 Quiet! Lord love you! never heard a noisier little urchin! 1843 C. Dickens 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 ii. 579 Lord love you, I'm not surprised at any one wanting to marry you. 1898 J. D. Brayshaw 1 Mister Bloomfiel'? Lor' lummy! there ain't no misters 'ere. 1916 ‘Taffrail’ xii. 218 ‘Lord love us!..d'you mean to say’—Words failed him. 1938 ‘J. Bell’ xv. 247 ‘'Lor love us!’ I says to meself. ‘Something's up.’ 1954 W. Sansom (title) Lord love us. 1973 P. O'Brian iii. 56 Here's coffee, sir, and a rasher. Do get summat in your gaff, sir, God love us. 2004 H. Strachan ii. 13 I don't mean we were dumb or anything like that, Lord love you, no. 1898 J. D. Brayshaw 141 Mine? Lor' luv a duck! No, that's Sal Hogan's little lot. 1922 J. Joyce ii. viii. [Lestrygonians] 170 Lord love a duck, he said, look at what I'm standing drinks to! 1934 T. S. Eliot ii. 65 What's that? Lor-love-a-duck, it's the missus! 1955 M. Allingham iv. 55 Orf come 'is 'at, and lord luva duck! 1984 C. Kightly i. 39 We was glad 'nough to 'ave that, when we was hayin': 'cause we 'ad to goo 'til half past eight at night. Cor, love-a-duck! 1997 B. MacLaverty (1998) 9 It's their right, their heritage. God love a duck. Bowler-hatted dunderheads. Gather-ups. The Orange dis-Order, I call them. society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > other types of game > [interjection] > formula used in divining games 1821 tr. J. W. von Goethe 51 He loves me—loves me not.—He loves me—not. (plucks the last leaf, and exclaims with delight) He loves me! 1893 C. D. Bell 171 She plucks the leaves and casts them in the stream. ‘He loves me,—loves me not,’—she sadly says. 1919 H. Trench ii. i. 36 He loves me, he loves me not—yes, no, yes, no—up to the last petal's most anxious flutter, eh? Just so, dear Méneval, Austria and England will arrive at an idea..as to which empire I am going to invade! 1946 A. Uttley 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. Opie & P. Opie xv. 339 Much energy and calculation is devoted to skipping through the alphabet…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 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. 1992 Feb.–Mar. 17/2 Young people created the familiar ‘petal pulling’ tradition of ‘he loves me, he loves me not.’ Compounds C1. In the names of plants. 1880 A. Sartoris II. 55 ‘Love-and-tear-it!’—the name..down in our part of the world for..the mallow. the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > climbing or creeping plants > [noun] > goose-grass or cleavers 1598 J. Florio Philantropo, the herbe goose-grasse or loue man. 1611 R. Cotgrave Riéble, Cleauer,..Loue-man, Goose-grasse. C2. the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk 1611 J. Florio Berghinellare, to gad abrode a gossoping as a pratling loue-pot woman. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022). lovev.2 Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian lovia to vow, to grant, to determine, establish, Middle Dutch lōven to praise, to recommend or offer (merchandise) for sale, to approve, to permit, to promise, to stand surety for, to be pleased with (something) (Dutch loven to praise), Old Saxon loƀon to praise (Middle Low German lōven to praise, to recommend or offer (merchandise) for sale, to vow, to promise; compare also lȫven to permit), Old High German lobōn , lobēn to praise, to celebrate, glorify, to recommend, to approve of (Middle High German loben , German loben ), Old Icelandic lofa to praise, to allow, permit, Old Swedish lova to praise, to permit (Swedish lova ), Old Danish louæ to praise, to recommend, to set a price on, to permit, to promise (Danish love ) < the same Germanic base as lof n. The range of senses in the different Germanic languages may reflect two or more distinct formations ultimately from the same base, although if so the resulting formations cannot be distinguished clearly in all cases. In a number of languages ‘permission’ and related senses are also found for nouns formally identical to the cognates of lof n.From the Middle English period onwards the written forms of the word are in many (and from the later Middle English period onwards, in most) writing systems indistinguishable from those of love v.1 (compare discussion at that entry). This can lead to difficulty in determining which of the two words occurs in some cases where the meaning is close. This is especially the case in religious use with reference to reverence or love of God: see Middle Eng. Dict. at lŏven v.1 sense 2 for clear evidence of forms of love v.1 (i.e. forms with -u- ) in early Middle English in the sense ‘to love (God, Christ), worship and obey’ (hence very close in meaning to sense 1a of this word). Very occasional spellings of the present word with -u- in early Middle English are apparently the result of semantic association with love v.1, as probably also are (ambiguous) cases of the spellings luf , lufe , luff in Older Scots. Compare also lover n.1, loving n.1 and discussion at those entries, and also lof n. In Old English the prefixed form ymblofian to praise (compare umbe- prefix) is also attested. †1. the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > commend or praise [verb (transitive)] OE 508 Ic gehyrde hine þine dæd and word lofian on his leohte and ymb þin lif sprecan. OE 115 We ðe, soðfæstan god, heriað and lofiað. c1175 (Burchfield transcript) l. 3485 Menn sholldenn cnawenn himm & lofenn himm. & wurrþenn. a1400 (a1325) (Vesp.) l. 18487 Loues nu vr lauerd dright. a1400 Psalter (Vesp.) cv. 12, in C. Horstmann (1896) II. 240 Þai..looued his lofe [L. laudaverunt laudem eius]. a1425 (a1400) (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 321 Þai..loved his lovyng als þai couth say. c1485 ( G. Hay (2005) 25 He was lufit and lovit, and honourit throuout all the warld. 1487 Thewis Gud Women (St. John's Cambr.) l. 140 in R. Girvan (1939) 89 And loyf all leid and no man lak. 1488 (c1478) Hary (Adv.) (1968–9) xii. l. 1458 I ȝow besek..Quha will nocht low lak nocht my Eloquence. a1522 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil (1957) i. Prol. 421 Virgill dyd diligens..Eneas for to loif and magnyfy. 1535 Psalms cvi. 32 They wolde exalte him in the congregacion of the people, & loaue him in the seate of the elders. a1586 A. Montgomerie I. 1 Luiffaris, leif of to loif so hie ȝour ladyes. the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > commend or praise [verb (intransitive)] the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > flattery or flattering > flatter [verb (intransitive)] OE (1932) lxx. 21 Mine weleras gefeoð, wynnum lofiað, þonne ic þe singe, sigora wealdend, and min sawl eac. a1500 R. Henryson tr. Æsop Fables: Cock & Fox l. 603 in (1981) 27 To loif and le that settis thair haill delyte. c1550 (1979) xv. 102 To loue vitht out flattery. 1572 (a1500) (1882) 87 For first to lofe, and syne to lak, Peter! it is schame. 1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie (1895) II. 474 Gif tha Loue, prais ouermekle, or commend. 2. society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > pricing > attach a price to [verb (transitive)] > set or fix price (of) OE Ælfric (Royal) (1997) xxxviii. 510 Se ceap ne mæg wið nanum sceatte beon geeht, ac he bið ælcum menn gelofod be his agenre hæfene. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris (1873) 2nd Ser. 213 Þe sullere loueð his þing dere... Ðe beȝer bet litel þar fore. a1325 (c1280) (Pepys 2344) (1927) 781 (MED) He ne lowede [v.r. louede] him nouȝt to deore, as þis chapmen wolleþ echon. ?a1475 (Winch.) (1908) 277 Lovon and bedyn, as chapmen, licitor. a1500 (a1460) (1897–1973) xx. 239 Now, Judas, sen he shalbe sold How lowfys thou hym? 1530 J. Palsgrave 614/2 I love, as a chapman loveth his ware that he wyll sell... Come of, howe moche love you it at? society > trade and finance > selling > sell [verb (transitive)] > expose or offer for sale a1500 (c1350) (Cambr.) (1986) l. 727 So feyre an hors sye he neuyr none... The man hym louyd for thyrty pownde, Eche peny hole and sownde: No lesse he wolde hym selle. 1595 A. Duncan Liceor, to lowe for so meikle, to cheape. 1604 (1911) II. 26 Sex bollis meill quhilk com in be sey quhilk suld bein first lovit to the toune. ?1664 Earl of Wemyss in J. G. Fyfe (1928) 128 The colles was well loved att Leith & since thorrow all sea ports in Scottland. a1728 W. Kennett MS Coll. Provinc. Words in (1902) III. 640/2 [Cheshire] Ile lothe it to you for so much money. 1873 G. Greenup 9 Sometimes he'd loff three to two. 1887 T. Darlington 250 Lothe, to part with at a lower price than that originally asked. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < |