a. and adv. [f. LOVER1 + -LIKE.] Like a lover; of a character or in a manner befitting a lover.

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1552.  Huloet, Louerlyke or lyke a louer, amatorie.

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1641.  Milton, Reform., II. Wks. 1851, III. 65. There is no act … wherein passes more loverlike contestation betweene Christ and the Soule.

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1748.  Richardson, Clarissa (1811), I. 164. A mere loverlike correspondence which my heart condemns.

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1808.  Eleanor Sleath, Bristol Heiress, I. 183. I delight to delineate, with a lover-like minuteness, the various … perfections … of Miss Percival.

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1894.  H. Nisbet, Bush Girl’s Rom., 155. Lover-like he fixed on one star and connected it with the maiden.

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