love (loves plural & 3rd person present) (loving present participle) (loved past tense & past participle )
1 verb If you love someone, you feel romantically or sexually attracted to them, and they are very important to you.
Oh, Amy, I love you... V n
We love each other. We want to spend our lives together. V n
2 n-uncount Love is a very strong feeling of affection towards someone who you are romantically or sexually attracted to.
Our love for each other has been increased by what we've been through together., ...a old fashioned love story., ...an album of love songs.
3 verb You say that you love someone when their happiness is very important to you, so that you behave in a kind and caring way towards them.
You'll never love anyone the way you love your baby. V n
4 n-uncount Love is the feeling that a person's happiness is very important to you, and the way you show this feeling in your behaviour towards them.
My love for all my children is unconditional..., She's got a great capacity for love.
5 verb If you love something, you like it very much.
We loved the food so much, especially the fish dishes... V n/-ing
I loved reading. V n/-ing
...one of these people that loves to be in the outdoors... V to-inf
I love it when I hear you laugh. V it wh
6 verb You can say that you love something when you consider that it is important and want to protect or support it.
I love my country as you love yours. V n
7 n-uncount Love is a strong liking for something, or a belief that it is important.
oft N of n
The French are known for their love of their language.
8 n-count Your love is someone or something that you love.
usu with poss
`She is the love of my life,' he said..., Music's one of my great loves.
9 verb If you would loveto have or do something, you very much want to have it or do it.
I would love to play for England again... V to-inf
I would love a hot bath and clean clothes... V n
His wife would love him to give up his job. V n to-inf
10 n-voc Some people use love as an affectionate way of addressing someone.
(BRIT)
INFORMAL, feelings
(=dear, darling)
Well, I'll take your word for it then, love..., Don't cry, my love.
11 num In tennis, love is a score of zero.
He beat Thomas Muster of Austria three sets to love.
12 convention You can use expressions such as `love', `love from', and `all my love', followed by your name, as an informal way of ending a letter to a friend or relation.
...with love from Grandma and Grandpa.
13 n-uncount If you send someone your love, you ask another person, who will soon be speaking or writing to them, to tell them that you are thinking about them with affection.
poss N
Please give her my love.
14
→
-loved
→
loving
→
free love
→
peace-loving
→
tug-of-love
15 If you fall in lovewith someone, you start to be in love with them.
fall in love phrase V inflects, oft PHR with n
I fell in love with him because of his kind nature..., We fell madly in love.
16 If you fall in lovewith something, you start to like it very much.
fall in love phrase V inflects, usu PHR with n
Working with Ford closely, I fell in love with the cinema.
17 If you are in lovewith someone, you feel romantically or sexually attracted to them, and they are very important to you.
be in love phrase V inflects, oft PHR with n
Laura had never before been in love..., I've never really been in love with anyone..., We were madly in love for about two years.
18 If you are in lovewith something, you like it very much.
be in love phrase V inflects, usu PHR with n
He had always been in love with the enchanted landscape of the West.
19 When two people make love, they have sex.
make love phrase V inflects, oft pl-n PHR, PHR to/with n Have you ever made love to a girl before?...
free love
A belief in free love is the belief that it is acceptable and good to have sexual relationships without marrying, often several relationships at the same time.
OLD-FASHIONED n-uncount
love affair (love affairs plural )
1 n-count A love affair is a romantic and usually sexual relationship between two people who love each other but who are not married or living together.
oft N with/between n
(=relationship)
...a stressful love affair with a married man.
2 n-sing If you refer to someone's love affairwith something, you mean that they like it a lot and are very enthusiastic about it.
with supp, usu N with n
...the American love affair with firearms...
love bite (love bites plural ), lovebite A love bite is a mark which someone has on their body as a result of being bitten by their partner when they were kissing or making love. n-count
love child (love children plural ), love-child If journalists refer to someone as a love child, they mean that the person was born as a result of a love affair between two people who have never been married to each other. n-count
Eric has a secret love child.
love-hate relationship (love-hate relationships plural )If you have a love-hate relationship with someone or something, your feelings towards them change suddenly and often from love to hate. n-count usu sing
...a book about the close love-hate relationship between two boys.
love letter (love letters plural )A love letter is a letter that you write to someone in order to tell them that you love them. n-count
love life (love lives plural )Someone's love life is the part of their life that consists of their romantic and sexual relationships. n-count
His love life was complicated, and involved intense relationships.
love nest (love nests plural ), love-nest A love nest is a house or flat where two people who are having a love affair live or meet. (JOURNALISM) n-count usu sing
love rat (love rats plural )Journalists sometimes use love rat to refer to a man who treats his wife or girlfriend in a cruel way, especially by having sexual relationships with other women. (JOURNALISM) n-count
(disapproval)
...the womanising of royal love rat James Hewitt.
love story (love stories plural )A love story is something such as a novel or film about a love affair. n-count
love-stricken , lovestruck
If you describe someone as love-stricken, you mean that they are so much in love that they are behaving in a strange and foolish way. adj
love triangle (love triangles plural )A love triangle is a relationship in which three people are each in love with at least one other person in the relationship. (JOURNALISM) n-count usu sing
tough love
Tough love is the practice of being very strict with a relative or friend who has an addiction or other problem in order to help them overcome the problem. n-uncount
...the activities of black communities in identifying their own law-breaking youths and then administering tough love.
tug-of-love
Journalists sometimes use tug-of-love to refer to a situation in which the parents of a child are divorced and one of the parents tries to get the child from the other, for example by taking him or her illegally.
(BRIT) n-sing usu N n
A mother yesterday won a tug-of-love battle for custody of her twin daughters.
