Word definition: love

Etimology


From Middle English love, luve, from Old English lufu, from Proto-West Germanic *lubu, from Proto-Germanic *lubō, from Proto-Indo-European *lewbʰ- (“love, care, desire”). The close of a letter sense is presumably a truncation of With love or the like. The verb is from Middle English loven, luvien, from Old English lufian (“to love”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubōn (“to love”), derived from the noun. Eclipsed non-native English amour (“love”), borrowed from French amour (“love”). Cognates include Russian любовь (ljubovʹ), Latin libido (“desire, lust”), Polish lubić and Sanskrit लोभ (lobha, “desire, greed”).

noun


love (countable and uncountable, plural loves)

(uncountable) A deep caring for the existence of another.

(uncountable) Strong affection.

(countable) A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.

(colloquial, Commonwealth) A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings.

A thing, activity, etc. which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.

(euphemistic) Sexual desire; attachment based on sexual attraction.

(euphemistic) Sexual activity.

An instance or episode of being in love; a love affair.

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”).

(obsolete) A thin silk material.

A climbing plant, Clematis vitalba.

Examples


Antonyms: hate, hatred, angst, indifference

A mother’s love is not easily shaken.

My husband’s love is the most important thing in my life.

He on his side / Leaning half-raised, with looks of cordial love / Hung over her enamoured.

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[.]

Through nonviolent resistance we shall be able to oppose the unjust system and at the same time love the perpetrators of the system. We must work passionately and unrelentingly for full stature as citizens, but may it never be said, my friends, that to gain it we used the inferior methods of falsehood, malice, hate, and violence.

I have never been in love as much as I have with you.

Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd, / Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman ſcorn'd.

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.

My love of cricket knows no bounds.

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?

Synonyms: baby, darling, honey, lover, pet, sweetheart; see also Thesaurus:sweetheart

Open the temple gates unto my love.

O love, dispatch all business, and be gone!

'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.

I met my love by the gasworks wall.

Synonyms: mate, darling, lovey, sweetie, sweetheart

Hello love, how can I help you?

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."

Synonyms: aphrodisia, carnality; see also Thesaurus:lust

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.

Synonyms: lovemaking, sex; see also Thesaurus:copulation

—What think you, my lord, of... love?—You mean ‘rumpy-pumpy’.

Synonym: romance

Maybe it was just a summer love, something with no future.

At busy hearts in vain love's arrows fly; [...]

Such a kind of transparency, as that of a Sive, a piece of Cyprus, or a Love-Hood.

verb


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).

(transitive) To need, thrive on.

(transitive) To be strongly inclined towards something; an emphatic form of like.

(usually transitive, sometimes intransitive) To seek the good or honor of (someone), care deeply about, to be dedicated to (someone or something).

(transitive, sometimes ironic) To derive delight from a fact or situation.

(transitive, euphemistic) To have sex with (perhaps from make love).

Examples


I love my spouse.   I love you!   I love that song!

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.

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.

Mold loves moist, dark places.

I love walking barefoot on wet grass;  I'd love to join the team;  I love what you've done with your hair

"I love not that underlings should perceive my wisdom."

For God so loued þe world, that he gaue his only begotten Sonne: that whosoeuer beleeueth in him, should not perish, but haue euerlasting life.

Iesus sayd vnto him, Thou shalt loue the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soule, and with all thy minde. This is the first and great Commandement. And the second is like vnto it, Thou shalt loue thy neighbour as thy selfe.

I love the fact that the coffee shop now offers fat-free chai latte.

I wish I could love her all night long.

Related words


synonyms

(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

antonyms

hate, despise, fear

related terms

lov

luv

wuv

Etimology


Now widely believed (due to historical written record) to be from the idea that when one does a thing “for love” it is for no monetary gain, the word “love” thus implying "nothing". The former assumption that it had originated from French l’œuf (literally “the egg”), due to its shape, has largely been discredited and is no longer widely accepted. However, the apparent similarity of the shape of an egg to a zero has inspired similar analogies, such as the use of duck (reputed to be short for duck's egg) for a zero score at cricket, and goose egg for "zero".

noun


love (uncountable)

(racquet sports, billiards) Zero, no score.

Nothing; no recompense.

Examples


So that’s fifteen-love to Kournikova.

The next day Agassi came back from two sets to love down to beat Courier in five sets.

I fought the white man for less than sixpence. I fought him for love, which is nothing at all.

verb


love (third-person singular simple present loves, present participle loving, simple past and past participle loved)

Alternative form of lofe (“to praise, sell”)

Data provided by Wiktionary