subs. (colloquial).—A wanton.

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  1589.  NASHE, The Anatomie of Absurditie, in Works (GROSART), I. 14. As there was a loyall Lucretia, so there was a LIGHT A LOVE Lais.

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  1592.  GREENE, A Quip for an Upstart Courtier, Bz. 6. Next them grew the dissembling daisie, to warn such LIGHT O’ LOVE wenches, not to trust every faire promise that such amorous bachelors make them.

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  1599.  HENRY PORTER, The Two Angry Women of Abingdon [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 1874, vii. 295]. Foul strumpet, LIGHT-A-LOVE, short-heels.

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  1605.  The London Prodigal, ii. 1. I hate a ‘LIGHT O’ LOVE,’ as I hate death.

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  1620.  BEAUMONT and FLETCHER, The Chances, i. 4.

                        Sure he has encountered
Some LIGHT O’ LOVE or other, and there means
To play at in and in for this night.

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  1652.  FLETCHER, The Wild-Goose Chase, iv. 1. One of your London LIGHT O’ LOVES, a right one! Came over in these pumps, and half a petticoat.

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  1840.  MARK LEMON, Lost and Won, i. 2. Now though Mistress Leyton never oversteps the bounds of modesty, yet it does look so much like what they would do were she a LIGHT OF LOVE.

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  1874.  OUIDA, Two Wooden Shoes, xxiii. You were spared a bad thing, lad; the child was that grand painter’s LIGHT-O’-LOVE, that is plain to see.

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