lover

From Middle English lovere, luffer, lufere, equivalent to love +‎ -er.

• lovyer (dialectal or obsolete)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈlʌvɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈlʌvə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lov‧er
• Rhymes: -ʌvə(ɹ)

lover (plural lovers)

1. 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, “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

   • 1980, Shalamar, “This Is For The Lover In You”, in Three For Love:

     This is for the lover in you (take this ring) / This ring (It means I'll always be true) / This is (how we'll start love anew) This time (were gonna last forever)

   • 2013 March 11, Adam Markovitz, “Matt Damon on (maybe) returning to ‘Bourne’ and playing Liberace’s lover”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     When HBO airs “Behind the Candelabra” on May 26, the world will get to see Matt Damon play Liberace’s drug-addled, surgically enhanced lover – a role about as far from Jason Bourne as it gets.

   • 2014 September 23, Elle King, Dave Bassett, “Ex's & Oh's”, in Love Stuff‎^[2], 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, “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?

2. A sexual partner, especially one with whom someone is having an affair.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sexual partner

   • 2006, Peifer Yann, Reuter Manuel, “Bad Boy”, in Everytime^[sic] 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 [3]

     A Libra woman seems to always be in love - either with her long term partner or with an ever-changing series of rotating lovers.

   • 2020 April 3, Chappell Roan, Dan Nigro, “Pink Pony Club”‎^[4]performed by Chappell Roan:

     I'm up and jaws are on the floor
     Lovers in the bathroom and a line outside the door

3. 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.

   • 2025 April 20, Sandee LaMotte, “Marijuana hospital visits linked to dementia diagnosis within 5 years, study finds”, in CNN‎^[5]:

     Sunday is 420 day, when lovers of marijuana get together to celebrate their fondness for weed.

4. (West Country, with "my") An informal term of address for any friend.

   All right, my lover?

• 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 favor of the term partner.

• → German: Lover

lover (plural lovers)

1. Obsolete form of louver.

• Vlorë

• loover (obsolete)

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈloː.vər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: lo‧ver
• Rhymes: -oːvər

lover n (plural lovers, diminutive lovertje n)

1. foliage

   Synonyms: gebladerte, lommer

• vloer

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.

• IPA^(key): /lɔ.ve/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

lover

1. to coil (a rope or cord), to fake a line
2. (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)

3. (reflexive) to snuggle up to, to snuggle up against

• “lover”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

• voler

Borrowed from Old French lovier, lover, from Medieval Latin *lōdārium (attested as lōvārium), extension of lōdium, of unclear origin.

• lovere, lowere, lovyre

• IPA^(key): /luˈveːr/, /ˈluvər/, /loːˈveːr/, /ˈloːvər/

lover (plural lovers)

1. louver (type of turret)

• English: louver, louvre, luffer
• Middle Scots: lewar

• “lǒver(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

lover

1. alternative form of lovere (“friend, lover”)

lover m pl

1. indefinite masculine plural of lov

lover

1. present tense of love

• lovar m pl

lover f pl

1. indefinite feminine plural of lov

lover

1. present of lova