Forms: 1 lufu, (lufo), 2–4 luve, 3 lou, 4, 6 loove, 5 louf, loof, 4–5 lof, lofo, 5 luf, lufue, (Sc. 4–6 luf(e, luff, 5, 8 luffe, 6 luif(e, 6, 8 luve, 6 luwe, luyf, luiff, lwiff, loif), 3– love. [OE. lufu str. fem. (also declined weak) = OHG. luba:—Teut. type *luƀâ, not found elsewhere, though Goth. has (brôþru-)lubô wk. fem., love, and lubains (stem -aini-) str. fem., hope; f. the weak-grade of the Teut. root *leuƀ-: lauƀ-: luƀ-:—OAryan *leubh-: loubh-: lubh-. Other derivatives of the wk.-grade are OS. lubig loving, and the Com. Teut. *luƀo-m, *loƀo-m LOF and its derivative *loƀôjan LOVE v.2; also OHG. gilob precious. Cognates belonging to the other grades of the root (1) from the eu grade, Com. Teut. *liuƀo- LIEF a., and its derivatives OHG. liobôn (MHG., mod.G. lieben), Du. lieven (obs., superseded by liefhebben lit. ‘to have dear’), OE. léofian, MDu. lieven, OHG. *liubên (MHG. lieben) to be dear or agreeable, OHG. *liubên (MHG. lieben) to endear, to show kindness; MDu., Du. liefde fem., love; OHG. liubî wk. fem., liuba str. fem. (MHG. liebe), MDu. lieve fem., love; (2) from the au grade, the Teut. types *lauƀâ, *galauƀon-, *galauƀjan, etc. (see LEAVE sb., BELIEF, BELIEVE v.).
Outside Teut. the Aryan root is represented by L. lubet (libet) it is pleasing, lubīdo (libīdo) desire, OSl. ljubŭ dear, ljuby love, ljubiti to love, Skr. lubh to desire, lōbha masc. desire.]
1. That disposition or state of feeling with regard to a person which (arising from recognition of attractive qualities, from instincts of natural relationship, or from sympathy) manifests itself in solicitude for the welfare of the object, and usually also in delight in his presence and desire for his approval; warm affection, attachment. Const. of, for, to, towards.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, cviii. 5. Settun wið me yfel fore godum & laeððu fore lufan minre.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John xv. 13. Næfð nan man maran lufe þonne ðeos ys þæt hwa sylle his lif for his freondum.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 8. And to alle cristenei men beren pais and luue bi-twen.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20300. Vre leuedi wep, saint iohan alsua, Treu luue was omang þam tua.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 155. Wommen moste be ouercome with fairenesse and loue, and nouȝt wiþ sternesse and drede.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), Pref. 2. What lufe he had til his sugets.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. viii. 44. He wende that al the kynges & knyghtes had come for grete loue and to haue done hym worship at his feste.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Sam. i. 26. Thy loue hath bene more speciall vnto me, then the loue of wemen.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 415. My loue to thee is sound sans cracke or flaw.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., Pref. Adiuring me by the loue of my contrie.
1611. Bible, Dan. i. 9. God had brought Daniel into fauour and tender loue with the Prince of the Eunuches.
1765. Cowper, in Southey, Life & Wks. (1835), I. 155. My heart was full of love to all the congregation.
1818. Cruise, Digest (ed. 2), II. 346. The natural love which Thomas Kirby bore to his brother.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, I. 279. His dominant spirit, and his love for the white men, were evinced in his latest breath.
1871. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 2. They should prove their love of him whom they had not seen, by love of their brothers whom they had seen.
b. Viewed as an abstract quality or principle. (Sometimes personified.)
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 343/32. Affectu, for hylde and lufe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 99. O reuth o loue and charite, Was neuer hir mak.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. I. 146. For trewthe telleþ þat loue is triacle of heuene.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 135. Humylite Engendryth lowe that destrueth envy and hatredyn.
1557. Seager, Sch. Vertue, 815, in Babees Bk. Loue doth moue the mynde to mercie.
a. 1628. Preston, Breastpl. Love (1631), 8. Love and hatred are … the great Lords and Masters, that divide the rest of the affections between them.
1811. Coleridge, 7 Lect. (1856), 70. Love is a desire of the whole being to be united to some thing, or some being, felt necessary to its completeness.
c. In particularized use: An instance of affection. † Also, an act of kindness.
c. 1000. Prayers of Exeter Bk., iv. 115. Wæs a cearu symle lufena to leane.
c. 1200. Moral Ode, 314, in Trin. Coll. Hom. Þe þe þos two luues halt and wile hes wel healde.
1595. Shaks., John, IV. i. 49. What good loue may I performe for you?
1632. Lithgow, Trav., V. 189. I met with an English ship … whose loues I cannot easily forget.
a. 1853. Robertson, Lect., i. (1858), 25. The same feelings and anxieties and loves.
† d. In OE. (contrasted with laʓu law): Amicable settlement, as opposed to litigation. Hence, in later use, occas. rendering L. fœdus treaty, covenant. Also, Under love and law; a phrase used to denote the position of being a member of a frankpledge. Obs.
a. 1000. Laws of Æthelred, III. c. 13 § 1 (Schmid). And þar þeʓen aʓe tweʓen costas lufe oþþe laʓe and he þonne lufe ʓeceose.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 99. Oreb … the mownte of fere and of luffe [L. mons terroris et fœderis]. Ibid., II. 347, IV. 123.
a. 1500. in Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 90. Yf ther bee ony persone wythin the warde that is not vnder francpledge that is to saye under love and lawe.
e. (Give) my love to..., or Love to...: a formula of request that the person addressed will convey the expression of the speaker’s or writer’s affection to a third person. Also to send one’s love.
1630. Winthrop, in New Eng. (1825), I. 378. Commend me to all our friends. My love and blessing to your brother and sisters [etc.].
1765. Cowper, Lett. to J. Hill, 14 Aug. My love to all your family. Ibid. (1793), Lett. to W. Hayley, 34 Feb. With Mary’s kind love.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., ix. Love to Tuppy!
1854. W. Collins, Hide & Seek, II. iv. (1861), 183. ‘I will write and comfort your mother this very afternoon—’ ‘Give her my love,’ interposed Zack.
2. In religious use, applied in an eminent sense to the paternal benevolence and affection of God towards His children, to the affectionate devotion due to God from His creatures, and to the affection of one created being to another so far as it is prompted by the sense of their common relationship to God. (Cf. CHARITY 1.)
Theologians distinguish the love of complacency, which implies approval of qualities in the object, and the love of benevolence, which is bestowed irrespective of the character of the object.
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., John v. 42. Ah ic cuðe iowih þætte lufo ʓodes ne habbas ʓe in iow.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 141. Ure drihten forgiaf hire hire sinnen for two þinge, an is muchel leððe to hire sunne oðer muchel luue to him.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., 70. Jhesu, suete love the dude gredyn.
1526. Tindale, 1 John v. 3. This is the love of god, that we kepe his commaundementes.
1611. Bible, 1 John iv. 16. God is loue, and hee that dwelleth in loue, dwelleth in God.
1650. E. Leigh, Annot. New Test., 220. There is a two fold love in God. 1. Amor benevolentiæ, a love of well willing … 2. Amor complacentiæ, a love of complacency.
1794. Coleridge, Relig. Musings, 192. Lord of unsleeping Love, From everlasting Thou!
1876. Mozley, Univ. Serm., ii. 29. Love in the Gospel sense is that general virtue which covers the motives.
3. Strong predilection, liking or fondness for, or devotion to (something). Const. of, for, to (arch.), † unto. † To give, bear love to: to be devoted or addicted to.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xxvii. (Schipper), 514. Swa mycel lufu to godcundre lare.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 4067. And for luue of ðis hore-plaȝe Manie for-leten godes laȝe.
1422. trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 218. Philosophie is no more but loue of witte and cvnnynge.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 237 b. Blynde avarice and love of money.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., 2. For the loue that he bare vnto peace.
1726. Pope, Postscript to Odyssey, V. 305. Let our love to Antiquity be ever so great.
1773. Mrs. Chapone, Improv. Mind (1774), II. 32. The love of truth, and a real desire of improvement.
c. 1810. Coleridge, in Lit. Rem. (1838), III. 303. Those vicious habits in which there is no love to sin.
1877. Gladstone, Glean., I. 148. The love of freedom itself is hardly stronger in England than the love of aristocracy.
1887. Fowler, Princ. Mor., II. i. 11. Among these primary desires should be specified the love of ease and the love of occupation.
1888. C. Patmore, in B. Champneys, Mem. (1900), II. iv. 43. When I was about fifteen my love for poetry began to get the better of my love for science.
4. That feeling of attachment that is based upon difference of sex; the affection that subsists between lover and sweetheart and is the normal basis of marriage. For love († in love): by reason of love (often placed in opposition to pecuniary considerations).
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xxix. 20. Iacob him hirsumode þa seofan ʓear for Rachele and hit þuhte him feawa daʓa for þære lufe, þe he to hire hæfde.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 47. For to drahen his luue toward hire.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 508. Now art þow yn þe snare That whilom Iapedest at loues peyne.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 226. Þe lede lawid in hire lofe as leme dose of gledis.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xlvi. 4. I hard a merle with mirry notis sing A sang of lufe.
1540. Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592), N ij. They that mary for love, shall lead their life in sorrow.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 750. Haile wedded Love, mysterious Law, true sourse Of human ofspring.
1776. Johnson, in Boswell, 28 March. It is commonly a weak man who marries for love.
a. 1834. Moore, Irish Mel., Love’s Yng. Dream, i. But there’s nothing half so sweet in life As love’s young dream.
a. 1849. Poe, Annabel Lee, 9. We loved with a love that was more than love—I and my Annabel Lee.
b. As a motive in imaginative literature.
1779–81. Johnson, L. P., Addison. The greatest weakness of the play is in the scenes of love … Yet the love is so intimately mingled with the whole action, that [etc.].
1859. Macaulay, Biogr., W. Pitt (2nd par.). This piece … is in some respects highly curious. There is no love. The whole plot is political.
c. An instance of being in love. Also collect. pl., amatory relations, love-affairs.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xxiii. (Arb.), 276. Nothing is so vnpleasant to a man, as to be encountred in his chiefe affection, and specially in his loues.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 3. Like a young Squire, in loves and lusty-hed His wanton daies that ever loosely led.
1604. Shaks., Oth., V. ii. 41. Oth. Thinke on thy sinnes. Des. They are Loues I beare to you.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 490. All the Rapes of Gods, and ev’ry Love, From ancient Chaos down to youthful Jove.
1738. Swift, Pol. Conversat., 103. I suppose, the Colonel was cross’d in his first Love.
1844. Disraeli, Coningsby, VIII. ii. The sweet pathos of their mutual loves.
1849. G. P. R. James, Woodman, ii. The loves of Mars and Venus.
d. Babe of love: = LOVE-CHILD.
1728–42. Pope, Dunc., II. 158. Two babes of love close clinging to her waist.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., I. (1810), 70. Recorded next a Babe of love I trace! Of many loves, the Mother’s fresh disgrace.
5. (With capital.) The personification of sexual affection; usu. masculine, and more or less identified with the Eros, Amor, or Cupid of classic mythology; formerly sometimes feminine, and capable of being identified with Venus. (See also 8 a.)
13[?]. in Wright, Lyric P., xvi. 53. To love y putte pleyntes mo.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, I. 353. For loue bygan his fetheres so to lyme.
1435. Misyn, Fire of Love, II. xii. 102. Weil it is sayd in play ‘luf gos before & ledis þe dawns.’
1566. Painter, Pal. Pleas., I. 79 b. Notwithstanding dame Love is so favourable unto mee.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. iii. 380. Fore runne faire Loue, strewing her way with flowers.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 763. Here Love his golden shafts imploies, here lights His constant Lamp, and waves his purple wings.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, III. ii. In peace, Love tunes the shepherd’s reed; In war, he mounts the warrior’s steed.
1868. FitzGerald, trans. Omar, cviii. (1899), 103. Ah Love! could you and I with Fate conspire.
b. with pl. A Cupid; one of the multitude of nameless gods of love imagined by mythologists; a figure or representation of the god of love.
1594. Spenser, Amoretti, xvi. Legions of loves with little wings did fly.
1663. Cowley, Acme & Septimius. All around The little Loves, that waited by, Bow’d, and bless’d the Augury.
1732. Swift, Strephon & Chloe, Wks. 1755, IV. I. 150. The smiling Cyprian goddess brings Her infant loves with purple wings.
1793[?]. Coleridge, Autumn. Evening, 49–50. A thousand Loves around her forehead fly; A thousand Loves sit melting in her eye.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), II. 63. Where’er her step in beauty moves, Around her fly a thousand loves.
6. The animal instinct between the sexes, and its gratification.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvii. (Vincencius), 13. Fals erroure, & lufe vnclene, & warldis dout als.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 185. A ȝongelynge … þat hadde obleged hym self to the devel for þe love of a wenche.
c. 1560. A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), vi. 27. A leddy als, for luf, to tak Ane propir page, hir tyme to pass.
1567. Satir. Poems Reform., iv. 28. Hir licherous luife, quhilk kindlit ouer hait.
1611. Bible, Prov. vii. 18. Come, let vs take our fill of loue vntill the morning.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 102. Six Seasons use; but then release the Cow, Unfit for Love, and for the lab’ring Plough.
7. Phrases (chiefly with prepositions).
a. For the love of: for the sake of, on account of. † Also For my (our, etc.) love = for my (our, etc.) sake.
Now only where some notion of the literal sense is implied (chiefly in adjurations); in early use often merely idiomatic, = L. causa, gratia. In OE. the sb. was often plural.
c. 888. K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxii. § 2. Ic wille [þe oðewan] forlustlice for þinum lufum [L. tui causa libenter].
971. Blickl. Hom., 23. Eal þis he þrowode for ure lufan.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues (1888), 7. Alle ðe ðis isieð … i bidde and warni, for ðe luue of gode … þat ȝie hatien … ðes awerȝhede senne.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 14683. Forþ in dedes gode … We wil noght stan þe, parfai! But … for þe luue o þi missau.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxix. (Placidas), 163. Sa hyme, for þe luf of me, þat in my nam he baptis þe.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XIII. xvi. We shalle destroye alle the knyghtes of kyng Arthurs … for the loue of syr Galahad.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. V., 62. Required the Englishe lordes for the love of God that the truce might continue.
1587. Ianes, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1600), III. 112. The Sauages came to the Island … and tore the two vpper strakes, and carried them away onely for the loue of the yron in the boords.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 850. Impose some seruice on me for thy loue. Ibid. (1601), Twel. N., II. iii. 92. For the loue o God, peace.
1710. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 8 Dec. I begged Mr. Harley, for the love of God, to take some care about it.
1859. Tennyson, Vivien, 410. A Table Round, That was to be, for love of God and man And noble deeds, the flower of all the world.
† b. For or of all (the) loves, upon all loves, of all love: a phrase of strong adjuration or entreaty. Similarly, for love’s sake. Obs.
c. 1400. Sowdone Bab., 1587. Sir, for alle loues, Lete me thy prisoneres seen.
a. 1425. Cursor M., 20380 (Trin.). Whi wepestou what is þe For alle loues [earlier texts, for felaured, for felauschip,] telle now me.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, Amabo … Of felowshippe: of all loues: I pray the: as euer thou wilte doe me good turne.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., II. ii. 153. Speake of all loues; I sound almost with feare.
1618. Ussher, Lett. (1686), 64. I do intreat you of all Love, to look over the first Edition.
1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, III. i. 31. O sweet Father, for Loues sake pittie me.
1624. Bp. Mountagu, Immed. Addr., 185. She … intreateth him that was worshipped vpon the Altar, of all loves, mercies, and works of wonder, to restore her vnto her health.
c. 1646. in 2nd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., 87/1. [10l.] which I desire you of all love to pay upon sight of this my letter.
1655. J. S., Phillis of Scyros, III. iv. 63. For loves sake, doe not press me to relate So long a story now.
1829. Whewell, in Life (1881), 133. Beg her of all love to establish herself in a more collegiate part of Cambridge.
c. For love or money: at any price, by any means. (Used in negative contexts.)
[971. Blickl. Hom., 43. Ne for feo, ne for nanes mannes lufon.
13[?]. Coer de L., 1476. Neythyr for love, neyther for eye.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. I. 101. And neuer leue hem for loue ne for lacchyng of syluer.]
1590. C. S., Right Relig., 18. Then should not men eyther for loue or money haue pardons.
1609. Dekker, Guls Horne-bk., vi. 30. If you can (either for loue or money) prouide your selfe a lodging by the water side.
1712. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 7 Aug. No more ghosts now for love or money.
1837. Sir F. Palgrave, Merch. & Friar, i. (1844), 18. Any person who, for love or money, might be induced to take the letter in his charge.
1869. March, Gram. Anglo-Saxon, Pref. iv. He let me … use … Anglo-Saxon texts not elsewhere to be had for love or money.
d. In love (with): enamored (of), imbued with love (for); transf. very fond (of) or much addicted (to).
[Cf. F. ‘Estre en amour, said of birds that bill, tread, or breed’ (Cotgr.).]
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 191. He is for ladyis in luf a right lusty schadow.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 5. He would talke … of the stories of the Scripture, so sweetely … as I was woonderfully in loue with him.
1581. Pettie, Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., III. (1586), 140. A woman cannot possibly doe any thing yt may make her husband more in love with her, then to play the good huswife.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. i. 87. I was in loue with my bed.
1664. Butler, Hud., II. i. 267. Quoth she, Y’ have almost made m’ in Love With that which did my pity move.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., IV. xvii. § 24. He that believes, without having any reason for believing, may be in love with his own fancies.
1727. Gay, Begg. Op., I. x. (1729), 14. What, is the fool in love in earnest then?
1828. Macaulay, Ess., Hallam’s Const. Hist. Its conduct, we are told, made the excellent Falkland in love with the very name of Parliament.
1881. Lucy B. Walford, Dick Netherby, xvii. 213. He was not himself in love.
1896. A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, xviii. Oh, when I was in love with you, Then I was clean and brave.
e. Out of love (with): the opposite of in love (with); disgusted (with).
1581. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., I. (1586), 10. Hee seemeth either too farre in loue with himselfe, or to farre out of loue with others.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., IV. iv. 210. I should haue scratch’d out your vnseeing eyes, To make my Master out of loue with thee. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., III. i. 174. I am so out of loue with life.
1722. De Foe, Relig. Courtsh., I. i. (1840), 4. What’s the matter, that you are so out of love with the world all on a sudden?
1754. Richardson, Grandison, III. xi. 83. Lord W.’s animosity to my father made him out of love with his name.
f. To fall († be taken or caught) in love: to become enamored; transf. to become very fond of, dote upon. Const. with. † Also, to fall, be brought into love’s dance.
Cf. F. tomber en amour (15th c. in Littré).
1423. James I., Kingis Q., xlv. So ferre I-fallyng Into lufis dance.
1530–1866. [see FALL v. 38 b].
c. 1530. Hickscorner (Manly), 204. Than in-to loves daunce we were brought.
1568. Grafton, Chron., I. 37. Locryne fell in great phancy and love with a faire Damosell.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 345. Of which water who so drinketh, shall bee caught in Love.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., IV. vi. heading, He sees her face; doth fall in love, And soone from her depart.
1606. G. W[oodcocke], Hist. Ivstine, XLIII. 134. With the pleasantnesse of which, they were so taken in loue, that [etc.].
1887. Rider Haggard, Jess, iv. John Niel was no chicken, nor very likely to fall in love with the first pretty face he met.
g. To make love: to pay amorous attention; with to = to court, woo. [After F. faire l’amour or It. far l’amore.]
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 290. A Phrase now there is which belongeth to your Shoppe boorde, that is, to make loue.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 107. Demetrius … Made loue to Nedars daughter. Ibid. (1602), Ham., V. ii. 57. Why, man, they did make loue to this imployment. Ibid. (1605), Macb., III. i. 124. Thence it is That I to your assistance doe make loue. Ibid. (1605), Lear, V. iii. 88. If you will marry, make your loues to me.
1663. Cowley, Hymn to Light, ii. Thou golden Shower of a true Jove! Who does in thee descend, and Heav’n to Earth make love!
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 517, ¶ 2. The Widow Lady whom he had made love to.
1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ. (1775), I. 31 (Remise Door). You have been making love to me all this while.
a. 1845. Hood, Poems (1846), I. 213. Oh there’s nothing in life like making love.
1860. Sat. Rev., IX. 306. How often … do we make love to the charms of cousins and avuncular expectations.
† h. In the love of: beloved by. Obs. rare.
1631. Weever, Anc. Funeral Mon., 417. He also departed this world, in the loue of all good men.
8. In various proverbs and proverbial phrases.
a. Proverbs.
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., III. xvii. in Anglia, IX. 357. The prouerbe sayis ‘als gude luif cummis as gais.’
1474. Caxton, Chesse, III. iii. Herof men say a comyn proverbe in englond, that loue lasteth as longe as the money endurith.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., II. vi. 36. Loue is blinde.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Amour, Loue, and the Cough cannot be hidden.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Rem. (1664), 35. Love needs no teaching.
b. Labor of love: work undertaken either from fondness for the work itself, or from desire to benefit persons whom one loves.
[An allusion to 1 Thess. i. 3, ‘Your worke of faith and labour of loue,’ and Heb. vi. 10.]
1673. Lady’s Call., II. iii. § 12. Women … founded Hospitals, and yet with a labor of love, as the Apostle styles it, Heb. vi. 10, disdain’d not somtimes to serve in them.
1853. Kingsley, Hypatia, ix. The humble stock phrases in which they talked of their labours of love.
1878. Black, Goldsmith, xiv. 131. During this labour of love [the composition of the Deserted Village].
c. Love in a cottage: a euphemistic expression for marriage with insufficient means.
1812. Mar. Edgeworth, Absentee, iv. Lady Clonbrony had not … the slightest notion how anybody … could prefer, to a good house … and a proper establishment, what is called love in a cottage.
[1820. Keats, Lamia, II. i. Love in a hut, with water and a crust, Is—Love, forgive us!—cinders, ashes, dust.]
1894. H. Gardener, Unoff. Patriot, 239. Here’s more love in a cottage business for you.
d. There’s no love lost between them: an ambiguous phrase, which has been employed with two contrary implications. † (a) Their affection is mutual. Obs.
c. 1640. R. Davenport, Surv. Sci., Wks. (Bullen, 1890), 327. Oh my sweete! Sure there is no loue lost when you two meete.
16[?]. Children in Wood, ii. in Percy, Reliq. (1765), III. 172. No love between these two was lost, Each was to other kinde.
1696. M. Henry, Life P. Henry (1699), 8. Dr. Busby … took a particular Kindness to him,… and there was no Love lost betwixt them.
1706. Motteux, Quix., II. xxxiii. (1749), III. 266. I love him well, and there’s no love lost between us.
1749. Smollett, Gil Blas (1797), III. 233. I have a friendship for you … And I can assure thee, child (said I), there is no love lost [Fr. que tu n’aimes pas un ingrat].
1773. Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., IV. As for murmurs, mother, we grumble a little now and then, to be sure. But there’s no love lost between us.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. New Year’s Coming of Age. There was no love lost for that matter.
1824. N. Drake, Noontide Leisure, II. 54. Give me your hand … and let me tell you … there is no love lost between us.
(b) Now always: They have no love for each other.
1622[?]. J. Taylor (Water P.), Trav. Twelve-pence, Wks. (1630), I. 71. They loue me not, which makes ’em quickly spend me. But there’s no great loue lost ’twixt them and mee, We keepe asunder and so best agree.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1768), III. 134. He must needs say, there was no love lost between some of my family and him; but he had not deserved of them what they had of him.
1858. Thackeray, Virgin., xvii. I. 134. There was not a great deal of love lost between Will and his half-sister.
1866. Howells, Venet. Life, 121. Americans do not like these people and I believe there is no love lost on the other side.
1889. T. A. Trollope, What I remember, III. 91. Between Italian and French radicals there is really no love lost.
9. A beloved person: esp. a sweetheart; chiefly applied to a female person, but sometimes to a male. (Often used as a term of endearing address.)
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 1531. He is mi lif & mi luue.
c. 1369. Chaucer, Bk. Duchesse, 91. And wher my lord, my love, be deed?
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. IV. 49. Rose Reginoldes loue [text A lemmon].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 672. Ful loude he song ‘Com hider, love, to me.’
14[?]. Sir Beues, 2019 (MS. M.). Beuys, loue dere, Ryde nat fro me in no manere!
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VII. xxxv. 269. He is my fyrst loue and he shal be the laste.
a. 1592. Marlowe, Pass. Sheph. to his Love. Liue with me and be my Loue.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., IV. i. 277. Whether Bassanio had not once a Loue.
1600. Dr. Dodypoll, III. v. in Bullen, Old Plays, III. 135. Why, love? doubt you that? Ibid., 136. Thou art growne passing strange, my love.
c. 1606. Wither, Love Sonn., iii. in Descr. Love (1638), C 4. In Summer time to Medley My love and I would goe.
1767. Sir W. Jones, Seven Fountains, Poems (1777), 37. Told to their smiling loves their amorous tales.
1818. Scott, ‘Old Song,’ in Br. Lamm., xxix. It is best to be off wi’ the old love, Before you be on wi’ the new.
a. 1834. Moore, Yng. May Moon, 1. The young May moon is beaming, love.
1860. C. Patmore, Faithful for ever, III. ii. 180. And there’s another thing, my Love, I wish you’d show you don’t approve.
1900. Barrie, Tommy & Grizel, xxv. 303. There are poor dogs of men … who open their letters from their loves, knowing exactly what will be in them.
b. transf. of animals.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, VIII. 288. One Heifar who had heard her Love complain, Roar’d from the Cave.
1792. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Wks., III. 259. Her feather’d Partner … Now for his loves pursues his airy way, And now with food returns.
† c. In reference to illicit relations: A paramour; said of both men and women. Obs.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xiv. 154. And whan thai wil have ony companye of man … than thei have Loves, that usen hem.
1462. Paston Lett., II. 98. He bydeth but a tyme that he myght gete a summe of money to geders … and to gone ther with a love of his sojornyng as yette in Hokehold.
1588. M. Kyffin, trans. Terence’s Andria, I. iii. C iv b. Whether she be wife to Pamphilus, or but his loue, I knowe not.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. v. 79. To serch his house for his wiues Loue.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 768. They haue one wife, many loues.
d. gen. The object of love; the beloved (of …).
1734. Pope, Ess. Man, IV. 190. The lover and the love of human-kind.
1754. Chatham, Lett. Nephew, iv. 28. Make yourself the love and admiration of the world.
1818. Byron, Ch. Har., IV. clxx. In the dust The fair-hair’d Daughter of the Isles is laid, The love of millions!
e. A charming or delightful person or thing; a ‘duck.’ colloq.
1814. Jane Austen, Lett. (1884), II. 241. The garden is quite a love.
1831. Lady Granville, Lett., 28 Feb. A pretty, tiny daughter, whom my girls think a love.
1841. S. Warren, Ten Thous. a-year, II. 75. He’s a love of a man, pa, isn’t he?
1844. L. Hunt, Blue-Stocking Revels, i. 26, Poems 103. Such doves of Petitions, and loves of sweet Pray’rs.
1864. W. H. Ainsworth, John Law, Prol. vi. (1881), 35. Nankin has the tiniest teacups you ever beheld—perfect loves!
1889. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Robbery under Arms, xxiv. What a love of a chain!
10. a. For love: without stakes, for nothing; applied to the practice of playing a competitive game for the pleasure of playing.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. i. 1007. For these at Beste and L’Ombre [you] wooe, And play for love and money too.
1813. Sporting Mag., XLI. 296. A match of … single-stick, was played … for what is technically termed Love and a Belly-full.
1821. Lamb, Elia, Ser. I. New Year’s Eve. I play over again for love, as the gamesters phrase it, games for which I once paid so dear.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xxxii. Mrs. Todgers … proposed that … they should play for ‘love.’
b. In various competitive games of skill, e.g., whist, football, tennis, racquets: No score, nothing; meaning that the party said ‘to be love’ has scored no points in the game then in progress. Love all: no score on either side.
1742. Hoyle, Whist, i. 13. If your Adversary is 6 or 7 Love, and you are to lead.
1780. Gentl. Mag., L. 322/2. We are not told how, or by what means Six love comes to mean Six to nothing.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 380/2. As the games are won, so they are marked and called; as one game love, two games to one, &c.
1885. Pall Mall G., 2 March, 10/2. In the Rugby game Northampton beat Coventry by a try to love.
1898. Encycl. Sport, II. 242/1. The marker’s … duty is to call the game … from the start at ‘love all.’… ‘Love,’ in the game of rackets, as in other games, signifies nothing.
c. Applied attrib. to a game or set of games in which there is nothing scored on one side.
1833. T. Hook, Parson’s Dau. (1847), 57. Can’t make a hazard … and has lost two love games.
1878. J. Marshall, Ann. Tennis, 158. Love-set, a set in which one player wins six consecutive games; or, in case of an advantage-set, seven consecutive games.
1884. Pall Mall G., 25 April, 3/2. In the two first days’ play the whole of the heats were love victories.
† 11. A game of chance in which one player holds up a certain number of fingers, and the other, without seeing, guesses their number. = MORA. Obs.
1585. Higgins, Junius’ Nomenclator, 297/2. Micare digitis,… a play vsed in Italy,… it is called there … the play of loue.
1611. Cotgr., Mourre, the play of loue.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xxii. 94. There he played … At love [orig. a la mourre].
1725. Bailey, Erasm. Colloq. (1733), 205. The Countrymens Play of holding up our Fingers (dimicatione digitorum, i.e. the Play of Love).
12. A variant of the game of EUCHRE.
1886. Euchre, 41. Slam, Love, or Skunk.
† 13. ‘A kind of thin silk stuff’ (J.). formerly used when in mourning; a border of this. Orig. love-hood. Obs. (Cf. love-ribbon in 16 below.)
1663. Boyle, Exper. Colours, III. ix. (1664), 198. Such a kind of Transparency, as that of a Sive, a piece of Cyprus, or a Love-Hood.
1747. Mrs. Delany, Lett. to Mrs. Dewes, in Life & Corr., 478. I shall make no more dark things; after three months black silk is worn with love hood.
1751. Lond. Daily Advertiser, 21 Dec. (N. & Q., 1st Ser. X. 206). A black velvet cloak with a love coarsely run round it.
1825–9. Mrs. Sherwood, Lady of Manor, II. x. 63. He was dressed in white, having a sash of black love.
14. a. An old name for Traveller’s Joy or Virgin’s Bower, Clematis Vitalba; also love-bind (see 16 b). b. (see quot. 1874.)
1640. Parkinson, Theat. Bot., 384. In English of most country people where it groweth [called] Honestie; and the Gentlewomen call it Love, but Gerard coyned that name of the Travelours joy.
1657. S. Purchas, Pol. Flying-Ins., I. xv. 95. Bees gather of these flowers following … In July … Love.
1874. Treas. Bot., Suppl., Love, a name used in Tasmania for Comesperma volubile.
15. Obvious combinations.
a. simple attributive, as love-adept, -adventure, -ballad, -bed, -desire, -discourse, -ditty, -dream, -elegy, -eye, -fit, -gift, -glance, -god, intrigue, -laughing, -light, -lore, -madness, -melancholy, -mourning, -note, -ode, -passion, -passion, -plot, -poem, † -prate, -quarrel, -rime, -service, -shaft, -speech, † -spring, -talking, -tear, -thought, -toy, -trick, -verse, -word etc.
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. i. 738. Dreaming like a *love-adept.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), I. 271. In relation to common amours and *love-adventures.
1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Amor, Componere amores … To make *loue balades.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., III. vii. 72. He is not lulling on a lewd *Loue-Bed.
1628. Ford, Lover’s Mel., IV. iii. The Incense of my *loue-desires are flam’d Vpon an Altar of more constant proofe.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., II. iv. 126. I know you ioy not in a *Loue-discourse.
a. 1711. Ken, Christophil, Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 476. I … Who for Two thousand Years, or rather more, Have sung the like *Love-ditties o’re and o’re.
1808. Scott, Marm., I. vii. And frame love-ditties passing rare.
a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 449/20. Þou make in me þi *loue-dreem.
1616–61. Holyday, Persius, 295. Weak *Love-elegies, such as Rome’s nobles speak.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3128. Lokyng on lenght with a *loue ee.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 112. Or fro this hoat *looue fits I shal bee shortlye retrayted.
1679. J. Goodman, Penitent Pardoned, II. i. (1713), 150. Taken with an agony of mind, or a kind of love-fit.
1821. Byron, Sardan., III. i. 401. Again the love-fit’s on him.
1645. Rutherford, Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845), 379. Christ is God’s highest *love-gift.
1876. Browning, Cenciaja, 279.
| The simpleton must ostentatiously | |
| Display a ring, the Cardinal’s love-gift. |
1821. Keats, Lamia, I. 102. The *love-glances of unlovely eyes.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., cliv. The little *Loue-God lying once asleepe.
1887. Bowen, Virg. Æneid, I. 662. She addresses the Love-god plumed for the flight.
1684. Otway, Atheist, II. i. Wks. 1728, I. 34. Your *Love-Intreagues are not so closely manag’d, but that [etc.].
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1777. With *luf-laȝyng [= laughing] a lyt.
1833. Coleridge, Song, ‘She is not Fair,’ 10. I cease not to behold The *love-light in her eye.
1839. Bailey, Festus (1852), 513. Her bright heart With lovelight glowed.
1754. H. Walpole, Lett. (1846), III. 64. That living academy of *love-lore, my Lady Vane.
1884. Harper’s Mag., Dec., 134/1. *Love-madness is nothing new.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. *Love Melancholy.
a. 1290. S. Eustace, in, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 213. Ssore i-bounden … wiþ *loue mourninge Of Crist þat alle þinge shop.
1840. Mrs. Norton, Dream, etc., 205. The borrowed *love-notes of thy echoing lyre.
1689. Prior, Ep. Fleetwood Shephard, 50. Pigs might squeak *love-odes, dogs bark satire.
1583. T. Watson, Poems, To Rdr. (Arb.), 27. In respect of my trauaile in penning these *loue-passions.
1670. Dryden, 2nd Pt. Conq. Granada, I. ii. I’ll your *love-plot quickly countermine.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 102. And this A mere *love-poem.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. i. 206. You haue simply misus’d our sexe in your *loue-prate.
1671. Milton, Samson, 1008. *Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., III. i. 183. Don Cupid, Regent of *Loue-rimes.
1561. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, III. (1577), N v b. with what sober mode they shewe fauor to who so is in their *loue seruice.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 159. Cupid … loos’d his *loue-shaft smartly from his bow.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 204. Mid tollinde wordes, oðer mid *luue speche.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., 70. Jhesu … Thy *love sprenges tacheth me.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. ii. 3. Shall Antipholus Euen in the spring of Loue, thy Loue-springs rot? Ibid. (1599), Hen. V., V. ii. 101. Tearmes, Such as will … pleade his *Loue-suit to her gentle heart.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 927. I hope þat may hym here Schal lerne of *luf-talkyng.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., 70. Of *love teres he weop a flod.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., I. i. 41. *Loue-thoughts lye rich, when canopy’d with bowres.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. (1598), 390. These are your *loue-toyes, which still are spent In lawlesse games.
1647. Trapp, Comm. Col. iv. 16. Other good books must be read … yet not idle pamphlets, and love-toies.
1590. T. Watson, Eglogue Death Sir F. Walsingham, 266. Let them suppose sweete Musicke out of vse, and wanton *louetricks to be foolish toies.
1611. Cotgr., Amourettes, loue-trickes.
1826. Syd. Smith, Wks. (1859), II. 90/2. All the various love-tricks of attempting to appear indifferent.
a. 1708. Walsh, in Dryden, Misc. (1727), IV. 335. Petrarch … being by much the most famous of all the Moderns who have written *Love-Verses.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in Cott. Hom., 201. Hwi ne con ich wowen þe wið swete *luue wordes.
a. 1651. Calderwood, Hist. Kirk (1843), II. 352. Manie love words she useth to Bothwell in this letter.
1883. Longm. Mag., Aug., 368. Why did her love-words echo in his ear?
b. objective and objective genitive, as love-breathing, -darting, -devouring, -inspiring, -lacking etc.; love-† frayner (= asker), -monger etc.
1730–46. Thomson, Autumn, 593. In rapture warbled from *love-breathing lips.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. IV. Captains, 849. Her sweet, *love-darting Eyn.
1634. Milton, Comus, 753. Love-darting eyes.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. vi. 7. Then *Loue-deuouring death do what he dare.
a. 1400. Relig. Pieces fr. Thornton MS. (1867), 59. Þat he ne do no trispase agayne þe rewle … of þis relegion, and of þase *lufe frayners.
1797. Mrs. M. Robinson, Walsingham, I. 277. The *love-inspiring dames of luxurious Italy.
1532. More, Confut. Tindale, Wks. 403/1. His false *loue-lacking charitie.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., cxxv. Loue-lacking vestals, and selfe-louing Nuns. Ibid. (1588), L. L. L., II. i. 253. Thou art an old *Loue-monger.
1882. Spectator, 9 Dec., 1579. His [Sterne’s] *lovemongering was altogether contemptible.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., III. ii. 5. Spred thy close Curtaine *Loue-performing night.
1742. Pope, Dunc., IV. 306. *Love-whisp’ring woods, and lute-resounding waves.
c. adverbial (chiefly instrumental) and parasynthetic, as love-born, -crossed, -deep, -dittied, -enthralled, -fond, -illumined, -inspired, -instructed, -labored, -laden, -learned, -mad, -open, -pensive, -quick, † -shaked, -smitten, -spent, -stricken, -touched, wounded adjs.
1725. Pope, Odyss., X. 398. *Love-born confidence.
1834. Lytton, Pompeii, III. ii. Thy Master was *love-crossed.
1885–94. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, Oct. iv. Many an old love-crost And doleful ditty would she gently sing.
1832. Tennyson, Eleänore, 76. The languors of thy *love-deep eyes.
1725. Pope, Odyss., I. 532. *Love-dittied airs, and dance, conclude the day.
1665. Brathwait, Comment Two Tales, 23. We are now to … descend to our *love-enthralled Absolon.
1823. Roscoe, Sismondi’s Lit. Eur. (1840), II. xxxvi. 458. The melancholy soul of a *love-fond poet.
1781. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. (1791), 19. Guard from cold dews her *love-illumin’d form.
1768. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Elegy Fleas Teneriffe, ix. The *love-inspir’d Fandango warms no more.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, I. (1598), 90. Then did he slacke his *loue-enstructed pace.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 41. The night-warbling Bird, that now awake Tunes sweetest his *love-labor’d song.
1820. Shelley, Skylark, ix. Soothing her *love-laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love.
1595. Spenser, Epithal., 88. The birds *love-learned song.
1839. Hallam, Hist. Lit., IV. IV. vi. § 5. 259. *Love-mad and yet talking in gallant conceits.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, I. (1598), 91. His *loue-open eye … that eu’n did marke her troden grasse.
1717. Fenton, Poems, 101. Wand’ring *Love-pensive near his Amber Stream.
1810. Splendid Follies, III. 121. The widow … placed herself opposite this *love-proof hero.
1595. Daniel, Civ. Wars, II. lxxv. [She] her *love-quicke eyes, which ready be, Fastens on one.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., III. ii. 385. I am he that is so *Loue-shak’d, I pray you tel me your remedie.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lvii. This *love-smitten and middle-aged gentleman.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., To Willow-tree (1869), 112. The *love-spent youth, and love-sick maid.
1805. Surr, Winter in Lond. (1806), II. x. 247. Bless me, the youth is *love-stricken!
1872. A. de Vere, Leg. St. Patrick, Arraignm. St. P., 7. Like birds that cannot stay their songs *Love-touched in Spring.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., I. ii. 113. *Loue wounded Protheus.
16. Special combs.: love-affair, in early use pl. the experiences connected with being in love; now sing. (in somewhat disparaging use) an amatory episode in a person’s life, an amour; † love amour, sexual love as distinguished from friendship; † love-badge, ? a badge indicating profession of amorous allegiance; love-begotten a., illegitimate; † love-bend, the ‘fetters’ of love; love-blink Sc., a look of love; † love-book, (a) the book of ‘the Song of Solomon’; (b) a book treating of love (nonce-use); † love-boy, a catamite; † love-brat = LOVE-CHILD; † love-broker, one who acts as an agent between lovers; so love-broking; love-call, a call or note used as a means of amorous communication between the sexes; † love-cause = love-affair; love-cup, † (a) a philtre; (b) a loving-cup; love-dart, an organ found in certain snails (see quot.), the spiculum amoris; † love-deed, an action proceeding from love; † love-dose, † -draught, a philtre; † love-dread, the fear that proceeds from love, ‘filial’ fear; † love-drunk, intoxication with love; † love-eie (= awe) = love-dread; love-favo(u)r (see FAVOUR sb. 7); † love-feat, an act of courtship; † lovehood (see sense 13); † love-juice, a juice which dropped upon the eyes has the effect of a philtre; † love-lace, the snare of love; † love-lad, a lover; † love-lake = love-sport; † love-lass, a sweetheart; † love-late, amorous looks or demeanor; † love-libel, a love-letter or message; † love-liking, sexual affection; † love-line nonce-wd., a love-letter; love-match, a marriage of which the motive is love, not worldly advantage or convenience; love-money, coins broken in two and divided between lovers or friends as a token of remembrance; † love-nettled a., deeply in love; † love-paper nonce-wd., a love-letter; love-passage, an incident of amatory experience; love-pat, a smart tap given out of love (cf. love-tick); love-pennant, ? a pennant with which a departing ship is decorated; love-philtre, often redundantly = PHILTRE; love-potion, a philtre = LOVE-DRINK; † love-powder, (a) a powder administered as a philtre; (b) nonce-use, the explosive stuff of love; love-ribbon, a narrow gauze ribbon with satin stripes (cf. sense 13); † love-ron, -rune, a tale or song of love; love-scene, a scene, esp. in a story or play, consisting of an interview between lovers; love-seal, a seal with a device appropriate to amatory correspondence; † love-soken (see quot.); love-sport, amorous play or dalliance; love-story, a story in which the main theme is the affection existing between lovers; love-tale = prec.; love-tap, a tap or gentle blow to indicate love; † love-thing, ? a pledge of love; † love-tick = love-tap; † love-tiding, a message of love; love-tight a., so as to be proof against love; † love-tooth, an inclination for love; † love-wine, wine served out to a company in a loving-cup.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 254. I’le … confer at large Of all that may concerne thy *Loue-affaires.
1867. Trollope, Chron. Barset, I. xxv. 217. I think you are aware that you have got a love-affair on hand.
c. 1350. Ipomadon (Kölbing), 127. Nowghte she covthe of *love amowre.
1656. Sir J. Mennis & J. Smith, Musarum Deliciæ, 35. Another ask’t me … Whether I wore a *Love-bagge on my shoulder?
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., 24 May. That he had been a *love-begotten babe, brought up in the workhouse.
1784. Registers of River, Kent (MS.). Mary, daughter of Ann Allen—Love begotten, [baptized].
c. 1250. Hymn to Virgin, 35, in Trin. Coll. Hom., App. 256. Ic êm in þine *loue bende.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (A.), 324. Leuer him wer walk & wende, & dye in trewe loue bende.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 228. I cast on him a crabbit E … And lettis it is a *luf-blenk.
1636. Rutherford, Lett. (1862), I. 155. My Bridegroom’s love-blinks fatten my weary soul.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 102. Ase mi leofmon þet seið to me, iðe *luue boc, ‘osculetur me osculo oris sui.’
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., I. i. 19. For I will be thy beadesman, Valentine. Val. And on a loue-booke pray for my successe?
a. 1656. Ussher, Ann., VI. (1658), 131. Pausanias, being discovered by Argilius, his *love-boy.
? 16[?]. Old Chap-bk. (N.). Four *love brats will be laid to thee.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. ii. 39. There is no *loue-Broker in the world, can more preuaile in mans commendation with woman, then report of valour.
1808. E. S. Barrett, Miss-led General, 166–7. What money Mr. Greentimber disbursed on account of the great man’s *love-broking affairs, he contrived to replace by commission-broking.
1824. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. 198. In less than two minutes Harriet heard the *love-call sounded at Sally’s gate.
1887. Athenæum, 31 Dec., 901/3. He [Mr. Rowbotham] disagrees with Darwin in finding the origin of all instrumental music in the love-call.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. i. 97. In all this time there was not anie man died in his owne person (videlicet) in a *loue cause.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 128. Poysoning *louecuppes, and inchauntments, were in the tyme of S. John most frequented throughout the Romayne Empyre.
1849. Rock, Ch. of Fathers, IV. xi. 86. The love-cup was sent about.
1877. F. P. Pascoe, Zool. Classif., 122. A curious organ is a pyriform muscular sac, containing one or two slender conical styles, which can be thrust out through the aperture of the sac; they are found in certain snails, and with them they pierce each other’s skin. They are known as *‘love-darts.’
13[?]. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., liv. 62. And þis I made for Monkynde, Mi *loue-dedes to haue in mynde.
1709. J. Johnson, Clergym. Vade M., II. 69. Pharmacy probably signifies here … the compounding of philtrums or *love-doses.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 85. Their *love-draughts, charmes, and druggs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 316. *Love-drede is in men wiþouten siche servile drede.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, xxxviii. 243. For þe loue-dreed þat sche hadde to god.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 11. *Lovedrunke is the meschief Above alle othre the most chief.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 428. Liðe wordes … þerof kumeð þinge best—þet is *luue-eie.
1597. Bp. Hall, Sat., I. ii. B 3 b. Deck’t with *love-fauors.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 123. And euery one his *Loue-feat will aduance Vnto his seuerall Mistresse. Ibid. (1590), Mids. N., III. ii. 89. Thou hast mistaken quite And laid the *loue iuyce on some true loues sight.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 2251 (Kölbing). He was nomen wiþ *loue las.
1586. W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 84. The Cornation that among the *loue laddes wontes to be worne much.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., 2020. Her loue laike þou bi hald For þe loue of me.
1610. Niccols, Eng. Eliza, Induct. Mirr. Mag., 776. So soone as Tython’s *love-lasse gan display Her opall colours in her Easterne throne.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 90. His eie euer bihalt te ȝif þu makest … eni *luue lates touward unðeauwes.
1602. Dekker, Satiromastix, Wks. 1873, I. 215. Sir Vau. … I desire you to … read this Paper. Miniver. Ile receive no *Love libels perdy, but by word a mouth.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 2040. Of romances that been royales, Of popes and of cardinales, And eek of *love-lykinge.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, II. i. 81. To giue great Charlemaine a pen in’s hand And write to her a *loue-line.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XIII. viii. This was a *love-match, as they call it, on both sides; this is, a match between two beggars.
1869. Trollope, He knew, etc., xxv. (1878), 138. It was little enough she got by marrying him…. But it was a love-match.
1856. W. H. Smyth, Rom. Fam. Coins, 281. The custom of breaking *love-money, as a pledge of fidelity.
1586. D. Rowland, Lazarillo, II. (1672), X viii. I was so *love-nettled, that if they had asked me the Phenix … I would have given it them.
c. 1613. Middleton, No Wit like a Woman’s, I. ii. Peruse this *love-paper as you go. [Giving letter.]
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., iii. 43. *Love-passages of the gods and heroes.
1876. C. D. Warner, Wint. Nile, i. 24. Garibaldi received one of his wounds, a sort of *love-pat of fame.
1889. Doyle, Micah Clarke, 377. You are like the same ship when the battle and the storm have … torn the *love-pennants from her peak.
1834. Lytton, Pompeii, ii. 20. The very air seems to have taken a *love-philtre, so handsome does every face without a beard seem in my eyes.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 85, margin. Philters or *love-potions.
1623. Webster, Duchess of Malfi, V. ii. Confesse to me Which of my women ’twas you hyr’d to put *Loue-powder into my drinke?
1678. Butler, Hud., III. i. 661. When he’s with Love-powder laden, And Prim’d, and Cock’d by Miss, or Madam.
1742. J. Yarrow, Love at First Sight, 14. There are Things call’d Charms, Bribes, and Love-Powder.
c. 1805. Mrs. Sherwood, in Life, xix. (1847), 329. I made her and Annie new caps, which I trimmed with rosettes of black *love-ribbon.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, Love-ribbon,… was employed to tie on Crape Hat-bands when worn at funerals, and is now occasionally worn by ladies in their caps.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 109. Nalde ha … nane *luue runes leornin ne lustnen.
c. 1275. A Luue Ron, 2, in O. E. Misc., 93. A Mayde cristes me bit yorne þat ich hire wurche a luue ron.
1850. Hannay, Singleton Fontenoy, I. iii. I. 35. Circe resumed a *love-scene between Adèle and the tender forçat.
1877. W. Jones, Finger-ring, 21. The impress being two human heads … the prototype of the numerous *‘love seals’ of a later period.
1523. Fitzherb., Surv., 9 b. But and he [the tenant] bye his corne in the market or other places, he is than at lybertie to grynde where he may be best serued, that maner of grynding is called *loue Socone, and the lordes tenauntes be called bonde socon.
1605. Chapman, All Fools, I. i. Where I am cloyde, And being bound to *loue sports, care not for them.
1623. Massinger, Bondman, I. iii. They cannot … Vsher vs to our Litters, tell *loue Stories.
1890. Barrie, My Lady Nicotine, xxiii. (1901), 70/1. The tragedy … is led up to by a pathetic love-story.
1633. Shirley, Bird in Cage, V. I 2 b. Forgetting all their legends, and *Loue tales Of Venus, Cupid, and the scapes of Joue.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 452. The Love-tale Infected Sions daughters with like heat.
1802. Ritson, Anc. Engl. Metr. Rom., I. p. vii. The love-tales of Longus, Heliodorus, and Xenophon of Ephesus.
1889. ‘Mark Twain,’ Yankee at Crt. K. Arthur, xxxiii. 383. When I make up my mind to hit a man, I don’t plan out a *love-tap.
c. 1205. Lay., 169. For he heo heuede swiþe ilofed, & *luf-þing hire biheite.
1493. Dives & Paup., X. viii. I iij b. Yt mischeif is noo curse but a *louetyk of god.
1627. Bp. Hall, Passion Serm., Wks. 429. These were but loue-ticks to what His soule endured.
1635. Quarles, Embl., III. vi. 146. Her frownes … may chance to show An angry love-trick [read -tick] on his arme, or so.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 1035. Ich mai do þar gode note, And bringe hom *lovetiþinge, Vor ich of chirche songe singe.
1875. McLaren, Serm., Ser. II. iv. 71. I can shut it out, sealing my heart *love-tight against it.
1580. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 350. I am nowe olde, yet haue I in my head a *loue tooth.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 117. They perhapps have *love wine ready to give to the company when they light.
b. In names of plants and animals: love-and-idle(s, dial. var. of love-in-idleness (E.D.D.); love-bind, the plant Traveller’s Joy (Halliwell); love-entangle, -entangled = love-in-a-mist (a); love-grass, a grass of the genus Eragrostis; love-in-a-mist, (a) the Fennel-flower, Nigella damascena; (b) a West Indian species, Passiflora fœtida (cf. G. liebe im nebel); love-in-a-puzzle, Nigella damascena; love-in-idleness (also † love-in-idle), the Heartsease, Viola tricolor; love-parrakeet, -parrot = LOVE-BIRD; love-shell (see quot.); love-tree, the Judas-tree, Cercis Siliquastrum (Treas. Bot., 1866); also tree of love; love-vine, ‘any species of Cuscuta, dodder’ (Webster, Suppl.).
1630. J. Taylor (Water P.), Wks., II. 134/2. Amongst all Pot-herbes growing on the ground, Time is the least respected, I haue found … When passions are let loose without a bridle, Then precious Time is turnd to *Loue and Idle.
1847. Halliwell, *Love-entangle, the nigella. Cornw.
1841. S. C. Hall, Ireland, I. 128. Sometimes they are overgrown by weed called *‘love-entangled,’ and the golden stone-crop.
1702. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXIII. 1257. What is peculiar in this *Love-grass is its having just under each spike, its stalk clammy.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 318. *Love in a Mist, Passiflora.
1834. Mary Howitt, in Tait’s Mag., I. 445/2. I’d a noble root of love-in-a-mist.
1824. H. Phillips, Flora Hist., II. 151. *Love in a puzzle, Love in a mist,… Nigella Damascena.
1664. S. Blake, Compl. Gardeners Pract., 50. *Lowe in idle, or two faces under a hood, is a Flower that is much like Violets.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. ii. 149. This floure is called … in English, Pances, *Loue in idlenes, and Hartes ease.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 168. The bolt of Cupid … fell vpon a little westerne flower; Before, milke-white; now purple with loues wound, And maidens call it, Loue in idlenesse.
1864. T. L. Phipson, Utilization Minute Life, vii. 155. Other species of Cypræa known … by the English as *‘Love-shells,’ are used as ornaments, etc.
[*Love-tree: cf. 1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 317. Tree of Love, Cercis.]
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 325. The long tendrils of the *love-vine rolled up into coils, which he assured us would live and grow for years, if hung on a nail indoors.
