Also lovy, lovee, lovie. [f. LOVE sb. + -Y.] A term of affectionate address: = ‘Dear love,’ ‘darling.’
1731. Fielding, Lett. Writers, I. v. You don’t look pretty in it, lovey, indeed you don’t.
1764. Foote, Mayor of G., I. Wks. 1799, I. 169. I go, lovy: good-day to my father-in-law. Ibid. (1770), Lame Lover, I. ibid. II. 67. Why, really, lovee, ’tis a large sum of money.
1801. Macneill, Poems (1844), 19. Sullen moods, and scolding frays, When lovie’s absent for some days.
1884. Punch, 20 Dec., 294. And what would Dovey do if Lovey were to die?
