love
/ˈlʌv/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms loves loving loved lovest lovedst loveth loue luv
- noun (uncountable) A deep caring for the existence of another.
- noun A profound and caring affection towards someone. “A mother’s love is not easily shaken.”
- noun Affectionate, benevolent concern or care for other people or beings, and for their well-being.
- noun A feeling of intense attraction towards someone. “I have never been in love as much as I have with you.”
- noun A deep or abiding liking for something; an enthusiasm for something. “My love of cricket knows no bounds.”
- noun (countable) A person who is the object of romantic feelings; a darling, a sweetheart, a beloved.
- noun (colloquial, Commonwealth) A term of friendly address, regardless of feelings. “Hello love, how can I help you?”
- noun A thing, activity, etc. which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.
- verb (usually transitive, sometimes intransitive, stative) To have a strong affection for (someone or something). “I love my spouse. I love you! I love that song!”
- verb (transitive) To need, thrive on. “Mold loves moist, dark places.”
- verb (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”
- verb (usually transitive, sometimes intransitive) To seek the good or honor of (someone), care deeply about, to be dedicated to (someone or something).
- verb (transitive, sometimes ironic) To derive delight from a fact or situation. “I love the fact that the coffee shop now offers fat-free chai latte.”
- verb (Internet) Synonym of heart (verb). “She loved my photos of the kids playing with the dogs.”
- verb (transitive, euphemistic) To have sex with (perhaps from make love). “I wish I could love her all night long.”
- noun (racquet sports, billiards) Zero, no score. “So that’s fifteen-love to Kournikova.”
- noun Nothing; no recompense.
- noun (World War II era, joint US/RAF) radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter L.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A male given name.
Synonyms
baby darling honey lover pet sweetheart babber babe precious bae babycakes bubba bully buttercup cabbage chickabiddy chickadee chuck cupcake cutie passion beloved dear dearest sexual love erotic love lovemaking making love love life enjoy
Antonyms
Etymology
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.
Eclipsed non-native English amour (“love”), borrowed from Norman amour (“love”).
Cognate with Scots luve (“love”), Saterland Frisian ljo, ljoo, ljoof (“dear, sweet”), Ljoote, Ljoowe (“love”), West Frisian leaf (“friendly, kind, cordial”), leafde (“love”), Dutch lief (“lovely, nice, sweet”), liefde (“love”), German lieb (“dear; lovable”), Liebe (“love”), German Low German Leevde, Lieve (“love”), Luxembourgish léif (“lovely, kind, nice, sweet”), Léift (“love”), Vilamovian łiwa (“love”), Yiddish ליב (lib, “nice; kind”), Icelandic ljúfur (“beloved, dear”), Norwegian Nynorsk, Swedish ljuv (“lovely, sweet”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐍆𐍃 (liufs, “beloved, dear”), Albanian lyp (“to beg”), Russian любовь (ljubovʹ, “love”), Lithuanian liaupsė (“praise”), Latin libido (“desire, lust”), Polish lubić (“to like”), Persian آلفتن (âloftan, “to enamor”), Sanskrit लोभ (lobha, “desire, greed”).
The verb sense is from Middle English loven, luvien, from Old English lufian (“to love”), from Proto-West Germanic *lubōn (“to love”), derived from the noun.
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”. Use of “love” for having no score extends to the 18th century in tennis as well as certain card games.
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".
Syllabic abbreviation of Logan and Veronica, as a deliberate homophone of love.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A feeling of strong attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration; preëminent kindness or devotion to another; affection; tenderness; as, the love of brothers and sisters.
- noun Especially, devoted attachment to, or tender or passionate affection for, one of the opposite sex. He on his side Leaning half-raised, with looks of cordial love Hung over her enamored. Milton.
- verb To have a feeling of love for; to regard with affection or good will; as, to love one's children and friends; to love one's country; to love one's God.
- verb To regard with passionate and devoted affection, as that of one sex for the other.
Etymology [OE. love, luve, AS. lufe, lufu; akin to E.lief, believe, L. lubet, libet,it pleases, Skr. lubh to be lustful. See Lief.]
Etymology [AS. lufian. Love, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “love”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details