love
EnglishEdit
This entry is part of the phrasebook project, which presents criteria for inclusion based on utility, simplicity and commonality. |
PronunciationEdit
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /lʌv/
Audio (RP) (file) Audio (GA) (file) - (Northern England, Ireland) IPA(key): /lʊv/
- Rhymes: -ʌv
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English love, luve, from Old English lufu, from Proto-Germanic *lubō, from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“love, care, desire”).
The closing-of-a-letter sense is presumably a truncation of With love or the like.
The verb is from Middle English loven, lovien, from Old English lufian (“to love”), from the noun lufu (“love”), see above.
Eclipsed non-native English amour (“love”), borrowed from French amour (“love”).
NounEdit
love (countable and uncountable, plural loves)
- (uncountable) Strong affection.
- A profound and caring affection towards someone.
- A mother’s love is not easily shaken.
- My husband’s love is the most important thing in my life.
- 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
- He on his side / Leaning half-raised, with looks of cordial love / Hung over her enamoured.
- 2014, S. Hidden, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Mystical Perspectives on the Love of God (→ISBN)
- Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.
- 1864, Utilitarianism Explained and Exemplified in Moral and Political Government:
- The love of your neighbor as yourself, is expressly given as the definition and test of Charity,—not alms-giving—and this love is [...] the highest of all the Divine commands[.]
- 1864, Utilitarianism Explained and Exemplified in Moral and Political Government:
- A feeling of intense attraction towards someone.
- I have never been in love as much as I have with you.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
- The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.
- A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something.
- My love of cricket knows no bounds.
- 2012, Philip Auerswald, The Coming Prosperity (→ISBN):
- For three decades, the average number of miles driven by US motorists increased steadily. Then, in 2007, that steady climb was suddenly halted. [...] What magic caused Americans to temper their longstanding love of the open road?
- A profound and caring affection towards someone.
- (countable) A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.
- 1595, Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion
- Open the temple gates unto my love.
- 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III Scene 2
- O love, dispatch all business, and be gone!
- 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure[1]:
- 'Oh, my love, my love!' she murmured, 'wilt thou ever know how I have loved thee?' and she kissed him on the forehead, and then went and stood in the pathway of the flame of Life.
- 1969, The Dubliners, Dirty Old Town:
- I met my love by the gasworks wall.
- 1595, Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion
- (colloquial, Commonwealth of Nations) A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.
- Hello love, how can I help you?
- A thing, activity, etc which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.
- 1997 March, "Faces of Today's Black Woman", in Ebony, volume 52, number 5, page 96:
- But it wasn't until [Theresa M. Claiborne] went to ROTC training camp at the University of California at Berkeley that she discovered that flying was her first love. "Pilots talk about getting bit by the flying bug," she says. "I thought, This is heaven."
- 1997 March, "Faces of Today's Black Woman", in Ebony, volume 52, number 5, page 96:
- (euphemistic) Sexual desire; attachment based on sexual attraction.
- 2013, Ronald Long, Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods, Routledge (→ISBN), page 3:
- The prospect that their cherished Greeks would have countenanced, much less honored, a love between men that expressed itself carnally, however, was not so easily assimilated.
- 2013, Ronald Long, Men, Homosexuality, and the Gods, Routledge (→ISBN), page 3:
- (euphemistic) Sexual activity.
- 1986, Ben Elton & al., Blackadder II, "Bells":
- —What think you, my lord, of... love?
- —You mean ‘rumpy-pumpy’.
- 1986, Ben Elton & al., Blackadder II, "Bells":
- An instance or episode of being in love; a love affair.
- 2014, E. L. Todd, Then Came Absolution (→ISBN):
- Maybe it was just a summer love, something with no future.
- 2014, E. L. Todd, Then Came Absolution (→ISBN):
- Used as the closing, before the signature, of a letter, especially between good friends or family members, or by the young.
- Alternative letter-case form of Love (“personification of love”).
- c. 1810,, Samuel Johnson (in The Works of Samuel Johnson):
- At busy hearts in vain love's arrows fly; [...]
- c. 1810,, Samuel Johnson (in The Works of Samuel Johnson):
- (obsolete) A thin silk material.
- 1664, Robert Boyle, Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours, […]
- Such a kind of transparency, as that of a Sive, a piece of Cyprus, or a Love-Hood.
- 1664, Robert Boyle, Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours, […]
- A climbing plant, Clematis vitalba.
SynonymsEdit
- (darling, sweetheart): baby, darling, lover, pet, sweetheart, honey, love bird; see also Thesaurus:sweetheart
- (term of address): mate, lover, darling, sweetie, sweetheart; see also Thesaurus:lover
- (sexual desire): aphrodisia, carnality; see also Thesaurus:lust
- (sexual activity): coitus, sex, the beast with two backs; see also Thesaurus:copulation
- (instance of being in love): romance
AntonymsEdit
TranslationsEdit
VerbEdit
love (third-person singular simple present loves, present participle loving, simple past and past participle loved)
- (usually transitive, sometimes intransitive, stative) To have a strong affection for (someone or something).
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter VI
- I wanted to take her in my arms and tell her how I loved her, and had taken her hand from the rail and started to draw her toward me when Olson came blundering up on deck with his bedding.
- 2013 February 26, Pink and Nate Ruess, Just Give Me a Reason:
- Just give me a reason, / just a little bit's enough, / just a second we're not broken, just bent / and we can learn to love again.
- I love my spouse. I love you!
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter VI
- (transitive) To need, thrive on.
- Mold loves moist, dark places.
- (transitive) To be strongly inclined towards something; an emphatic form of like.
- I love walking barefoot on wet grass; I'd love to join the team; I love what you've done with your hair
- 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure[2]:
- "I love not that underlings should perceive my wisdom."
- (usually transitive, sometimes intransitive) To care deeply about, to be dedicated to (someone or something).
- John 3:16
- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- Matthew: 22:37-38
- You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and your whole mind, and your whole soul; you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
- 2013 June 21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27:
- The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […] offering services that let you […] "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
- John 3:16
- (transitive) To derive delight from a fact or situation.
- I love the fact that the coffee shop now offers fat-free chai latte.
- (transitive, euphemistic) To have sex with (perhaps from make love).
- I wish I could love her all night long.
ConjugationEdit
infinitive | love | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | loving | ||||||||||
past participle | loved | ||||||||||
simple | progressive | perfect | perfect progressive | ||||||||
present | I love | we love | I am loving | we are loving | I have loved | we have loved | I have been loving | we have been loving | |||
you love | you love | you are loving | you are loving | you have loved | you have loved | you have been loving | you have been loving | ||||
he loves | they love | he is loving | they are loving | he has loved | they have loved | he has been loving | they have been loving | ||||
past | I loved | we loved | I was loving | we were loving | I had loved | we had loved | I had been loving | we had been loving | |||
you loved | you loved | you were loving | you were loving | you had loved | you had loved | you had been loving | you had been loving | ||||
he loved | they loved | he was loving | they were loving | he had loved | they had loved | he had been loving | they had been loving | ||||
future | I will love | we will love | I will be loving | we will be loving | I will have loved | we will have loved | I will have been loving | we will have been loving | |||
you will love | you will love | you will be loving | you will be loving | you will have loved | you will have loved | you will have been loving | you will have been loving | ||||
he will love | they will love | he will be loving | they will be loving | he will have loved | they will have loved | he will have been loving | they will have been loving | ||||
conditional | I would love | we would love | I would be loving | we would be loving | I would have loved | we would have loved | I would have been loving | we would have been loving | |||
you would love | you would love | you would be loving | you would be loving | you would have loved | you would have loved | you would have been loving | you would have been loving | ||||
he would love | they would love | he would be loving | they would be loving | he would have loved | they would have loved | he would have been loving | they would have been loving | ||||
imperative | love |
SynonymsEdit
- (have a strong affection for): adore, cherish; see also Thesaurus:love
- (have sexual intercourse with): enjoy, go to bed with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
- all's fair in love and war
- cupboard love
- fall in love
- first love
- I love you
- in love
- lady love
- love affair
- love at first sight
- love bird, lovebird
- love bite, lovebite
- love bomb
- love bug
- lovebunny
- love child
- loveday
- loved-up
- love egg
- love feast
- love game
- love grass
- love handle
- love-hate
- love-in
- love-in-a-mist
- love interest
- love is blind
- loveless
- love life
- lovely
- love-making
- love match
- love nest
- love on
- love potion
- lover
- love rat
- lovertine
- love seat
- loveship
- love-shyness
- lovesick
- lovesome
- love song
- lovestone
- love story
- love tap
- love toy
- love triangle
- loveworthy
- lovey-dovey
- loving kindness
- loyal love
- make love
- no love lost
- platonic love
- puppy love
- tough love
- true love
- unrequited love
- zouk love
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
See alsoEdit
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English loven, lovien, from Old English lofian (“to praise, exalt, appraise, value”), from Proto-Germanic *lubōną (“to praise, vow”), from *lubą (“praise”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“to like, love, desire”), *lewbʰ-.
VerbEdit
love (third-person singular simple present loves, present participle loving, simple past and past participle loved)
- (transitive, obsolete or Britain dialectal) To praise; commend.
- (transitive, obsolete or Britain dialectal) To praise as of value; prize; set a price on.
Etymology 3Edit
Said by some to be from the idea that when one does a thing “for love”, that is for no monetary gain, the word “love” implies "nothing". The previously held belief that it originated from the French term l’œuf (“the egg”), due to its shape, is no longer widely accepted, though compare the use of duck (reputed to be short for duck's egg) for a zero score at cricket.
NounEdit
love (uncountable)
- (racquet sports, billiards) Zero, no score.
- So that’s fifteen-love to Kournikova.
- 2013, Paul McNamee, Game Changer: My Tennis Life
- The next day Agassi came back from two sets to love down to beat Courier in five sets.
TranslationsEdit
|
ReferencesEdit
- love at OneLook Dictionary Search
- love in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
- love in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
AnagramsEdit
CzechEdit
PronunciationEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
love f pl
DeclensionEdit
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
SynonymsEdit
- See also prachy
NounEdit
love m
Further readingEdit
- love in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu
DanishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle Low German lōve, from Proto-Germanic *galaubô, cognate with German Glaube.
NounEdit
love c
- (obsolete) trust, faith
- only in the phrase på tro og love (“solemnly”)
ReferencesEdit
- “love,1” in Den Danske Ordbog
Etymology 2Edit
From Old Norse lofa, from Proto-Germanic *(ga)lubōną, cognate with Swedish lova (“to promise; to praise”), German loben (“to praise”), geloben (“to vow”), Dutch loven (“to praise”).
VerbEdit
love (past tense lovede, past participle lovet)
InflectionEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “love,2” in Den Danske Ordbog
- “love,3” in Den Danske Ordbog
Etymology 3Edit
See See the etymology of the main entry.
NounEdit
love c
- indefinite plural of lov
DutchEdit
PronunciationEdit
Audio (file)
VerbEdit
love
AnagramsEdit
FrenchEdit
VerbEdit
love
- inflection of lover:
AnagramsEdit
FriulianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin lupa, feminine of lupus. Compare Venetian lova, French louve.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
love f (plural lovis)
Related termsEdit
HunsrikEdit
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
love
- to praise
Further readingEdit
Inari SamiEdit
NumeralEdit
love
Middle DutchEdit
NounEdit
lōve
Middle EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old English lufu
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
love (plural loves)
DescendantsEdit
Norwegian BokmålEdit
EtymologyEdit
VerbEdit
love (imperative lov, present tense lover, simple past and past participle lova or lovet, present participle lovende)
- to praise
VerbEdit
love (imperative lov, present tense lover, simple past lova or lovet or lovte or lovde, past participle lova or lovet or lovt or lovd, present participle lovende)
- to promise
- (as an adjective) det lovede land - the Promised Land
Related termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “love” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian NynorskEdit
VerbEdit
love (present tense lovar or lover, past tense lova or lovde, past participle lova or lovt or lovd, present participle lovande, imperative lov)
- Alternative form of lova
NounEdit
love m (definite singular loven, indefinite plural lovar, definite plural lovane)
- Alternative form of lóve
AnagramsEdit
RomaniEdit
NounEdit
love
DescendantsEdit
- → French: lové
- → Hungarian: lóvé
- → Romanian: lovea
- → Russian: лавэ́ (lavɛ́)
- → Scots: lowie
- → Serbo-Croatian:
- → Slovak: lóve
Serbo-CroatianEdit
NounEdit
love (Cyrillic spelling лове)
VerbEdit
love (Cyrillic spelling лове)