lover
English
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle English lovere, luffer, lufere, equivalent to love + -er.
Alternative forms
[edit]- lovyer (dialectal or obsolete)
Pronunciation
[edit]- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈlʌvɚ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈlʌvə/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: lov‧er
- Rhymes: -ʌvə(ɹ)
Noun
[edit]lover (plural lovers)
- One who loves and cares for another person in a romantic way; a sweetheart, love, soulmate, boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse.
- Synonyms: love, love interest, spouse, sweetheart, significant other; see also Thesaurus:lover
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi], page 170, column 2:
- […] loue is blinde, and louers cannot ſee / The pretty follies that themſelues commit, […]
- 1976, Joni Mitchell (lyrics and music), “Song For Sharon”, in Hejira:
- Well there's a wide wide world of noble causes / And lovely landscapes to discover / But all I really want to do right now / Is find another lover
- 2014 September 23, Elle King, Dave Bassett, “Ex's & Oh's”, in Love Stuff[1], performed by Elle King:
- Now, there's one in California who's been cursing my name / 'Cause I found me a better lover in the UK, hey, hey / Until I made my getaway
- 2016, David Boulter, Stuart A. Staples (lyrics and music), “Like Only Lovers Can”, in The Waiting Room, performed by Tindersticks:
- We can only hurt each other the way that lovers can / So where do we go, where do we hide now?
- A sexual partner, especially one with whom someone is having an affair.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sexual partner
- 2006, Peifer Yann, Reuter Manuel (lyrics and music), “Bad Boy”, in Everytime We Touch, performed by Cascada, →OCLC:
- Be my bad boy, be my man / Be my weekend lover, but don't be my friend / You can be my bad boy, but understand / That I don't need you in my life again
- 2018 January 17, "Libra Woman: Personality Traits: Love & More", Astrology.com [2]
- A Libra woman seems to always be in love - either with her long term partner or with an ever-changing series of rotating lovers.
- A person who loves something.
- Synonym: connoisseur
- a lover of fine wines
- a lover of his/her own country
- 1888–1891, Herman Melville, “[Billy Budd, Foretopman.] Chapter XVIII.”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC, page 279:
- But though a conscientious disciplinarian he was no lover of authority for mere authority's sake.
- (West Country, with "my") An informal term of address for any friend.
- All right, me lover?
Usage notes
[edit]- In the 1980s and 1990s, the term "lover" was commonly used for a long-term committed romantic partner, particularly in the LGBTQ+ community. Subsequently, this usage has become less common, usually in favour of partner.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → German: Lover
Translations
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Etymology 2
[edit]Noun
[edit]lover (plural lovers)
Anagrams
[edit]Dutch
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- loover (obsolete)
Etymology
[edit]From Middle Dutch lover, originally the plural of loof. As with other words with plurals in -er, eventually this was substituted with -eren, creating loveren. This new plural was then reanalysed as a separate noun and a new singular form lover was back-formed from it.
Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]lover n (plural lovers, diminutive lovertje n)
Synonyms
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]A 17th century borrowing from North Sea Germanic language verb "lofen, lufen". The 1986 Dictionnaire de l'Académie française identifies the source as Low German (Dutch Low Saxon or German Low German); Jan de Vries' Nederlands Etymologisch Woordenboek (which identifies it as a possible cognate of Dutch leuver) suggests East Frisian instead.
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]lover
- to coil (a rope or cord), to fake a line
- (reflexive) to coil up, wind up; to curl up
- 2019, Alain Damasio, chapter 2, in Les furtifs [The Stealthies], La Volte, →ISBN:
- Happant du linge et courbant le matelas, j’y ai rapidement fait mon nid et je me suis lové en boule à l’intérieur.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (reflexive) to snuggle up to, to snuggle up against
Conjugation
[edit]infinitive | simple | lover | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
compound | avoir + past participle | ||||||
present participle or gerund1 | simple | lovant /lɔ.vɑ̃/ | |||||
compound | ayant + past participle | ||||||
past participle | lové /lɔ.ve/ | ||||||
singular | plural | ||||||
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | love /lɔv/ |
loves /lɔv/ |
love /lɔv/ |
lovons /lɔ.vɔ̃/ |
lovez /lɔ.ve/ |
lovent /lɔv/ |
imperfect | lovais /lɔ.vɛ/ |
lovais /lɔ.vɛ/ |
lovait /lɔ.vɛ/ |
lovions /lɔ.vjɔ̃/ |
loviez /lɔ.vje/ |
lovaient /lɔ.vɛ/ | |
past historic2 | lovai /lɔ.ve/ |
lovas /lɔ.va/ |
lova /lɔ.va/ |
lovâmes /lɔ.vam/ |
lovâtes /lɔ.vat/ |
lovèrent /lɔ.vɛʁ/ | |
future | loverai /lɔ.vʁe/ |
loveras /lɔ.vʁa/ |
lovera /lɔ.vʁa/ |
loverons /lɔ.vʁɔ̃/ |
loverez /lɔ.vʁe/ |
loveront /lɔ.vʁɔ̃/ | |
conditional | loverais /lɔ.vʁɛ/ |
loverais /lɔ.vʁɛ/ |
loverait /lɔ.vʁɛ/ |
loverions /lɔ.və.ʁjɔ̃/ |
loveriez /lɔ.və.ʁje/ |
loveraient /lɔ.vʁɛ/ | |
(compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle | ||||||
past anterior2 | past historic of avoir + past participle | ||||||
future perfect | future of avoir + past participle | ||||||
conditional perfect | conditional of avoir + past participle | ||||||
subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
(simple tenses) |
present | love /lɔv/ |
loves /lɔv/ |
love /lɔv/ |
lovions /lɔ.vjɔ̃/ |
loviez /lɔ.vje/ |
lovent /lɔv/ |
imperfect2 | lovasse /lɔ.vas/ |
lovasses /lɔ.vas/ |
lovât /lɔ.va/ |
lovassions /lɔ.va.sjɔ̃/ |
lovassiez /lɔ.va.sje/ |
lovassent /lɔ.vas/ | |
(compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir + past participle | |||||
pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle | ||||||
imperative | – | – | – | ||||
simple | — | love /lɔv/ |
— | lovons /lɔ.vɔ̃/ |
lovez /lɔ.ve/ |
— | |
compound | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | simple imperative of avoir + past participle | — | |
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). |
Further reading
[edit]- “lover���, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
[edit]Middle English
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Borrowed from Old French lovier, lover, from Medieval Latin *lōdārium (attested as lōvārium), extension of lōdium, of unclear origin.
Alternative forms
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Noun
[edit]lover (plural lovers)
Descendants
[edit]References
[edit]- “lǒver(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 2
[edit]Noun
[edit]lover
- Alternative form of lovere (“friend, lover”)
Norwegian Bokmål
[edit]Noun
[edit]lover m pl
Verb
[edit]lover
Norwegian Nynorsk
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]- lovar m pl
Noun
[edit]lover f pl
Etymology 2
[edit]Verb
[edit]lover
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ʌvə(ɹ)
- Rhymes:English/ʌvə(ɹ)/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- West Country English
- English obsolete forms
- English agent nouns
- en:Love
- en:People
- en:Stock characters
- Dutch terms inherited from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms derived from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/oːvər
- Rhymes:Dutch/oːvər/2 syllables
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -s
- Dutch neuter nouns
- French terms derived from Dutch Low Saxon
- French terms derived from German Low German
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio links
- French lemmas
- French verbs
- French reflexive verbs
- French terms with quotations
- French verbs with conjugation -er
- French first group verbs
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Old French
- Middle English terms derived from Medieval Latin
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- enm:Architecture
- Norwegian Bokmål non-lemma forms
- Norwegian Bokmål noun forms
- Norwegian Bokmål verb forms
- Norwegian Nynorsk non-lemma forms
- Norwegian Nynorsk noun forms
- Norwegian Nynorsk verb forms