love

noun

1. (uncountable)A deep caring for the existence of another.
2. (countable, uncountable)Strong affection.

   “A mother’s love is not easily shaken.”

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

   “My love for Melca is eternal.”

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

3. (countable, uncountable)Strong affection.

   “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.”

4. (countable, uncountable)Strong affection.

   “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.”

5. (countable, uncountable)Strong affection.

   “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?”

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

   “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.”

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

   “Hello love, how can I help you?”

8. (countable, uncountable)A thing, activity, etc. which is the object of one's deep liking or enthusiasm.

   “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."”

9. (countable, euphemistic, uncountable)Sexual desire; attachment based on sexual attraction.

   “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.”

10. (countable, euphemistic, uncountable)Sexual activity.

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

11. (countable, uncountable)An instance or episode of being in love; a love affair.

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

12. (countable, uncountable)Used as the closing, before the signature, of a letter, especially between good friends or family members, or by the young.
13. (alt-of, countable, uncountable)Alternative letter-case form of Love (“personification of love”).

    “At busy hearts in vain love's arrows fly; …”

14. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)A thin silk material.

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

15. (countable, uncountable)A climbing plant, Clematis vitalba.
16. (uncountable)Zero, no score.

    “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.”

17. (uncountable)Nothing; no recompense.

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

18. radiotelephony clear-code word for the letter L.

verb

1. (intransitive, sometimes, stative, transitive, usually)To have a strong affection for (someone or something).

   “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.”

2. (transitive)To need, thrive on.

   “Mold loves moist, dark places.”

3. (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”

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

   ““Everywhere he went, I went with him. When I was twenty-three, I had been nearly all over the world. It was a splendid life—I loved it.””

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

   “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.”

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

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

6. (Internet)Synonym of heart (verb).

   “She loved my photos of the kids playing with the dogs.”

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

   “I wish I could love her all night long.”

8. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of lofe (“to praise, sell”).

name

1. (countable, uncountable)A surname.

   “Elisheva Baskin and Michael Stein are to be married Sunday evening at the Palisadium, an event space in Cliffside Park, N.J. Rabbi Yaacov Love is to officiate.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A male given name.
3. (countable, uncountable)A female given name.
4. (countable, uncountable)Cupid, Eros, or another personification of love.

   “To Hymen's bower young Cupid came, And each with each was quite delighted; Love shot his dart of surest aim, And Hymen's brightest torch was lighted.”

5. (countable, uncountable)An unincorporated community in Butler County, Kentucky.
6. (slang)The ship of characters Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars from the television show Veronica Mars.

   “The complicated and, for fans, mostly frustrating relationship between these characters is the reason why stories dealing with Spuffy and LoVe pairings are by far more popular than stories based on any other possible ship.”

   ““LoVe” (Logan/Veronica) was a very rapid OTP (one true pairing) candidate.”

   “Though all but two of my informants eventually self-identified as LoVe shippers—Eileen and Jodie were vocally opposed to the relationship, characterizing it as abusive—all were initially unwilling to involve that investment in their answers to my questions.”