DEFINITION OF LOVE

LOVE

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A feeling of strong attachment induced by that which
delights or commands admiration; preeminent kindness or devotion to
another; affection; tenderness; as, the love of brothers and sisters.

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Especially, devoted attachment to, or tender or passionate affection for, one of the opposite sex.

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Courtship; -- chiefly in the phrase to make love, i. e., to court, to woo, to solicit union in marriage.

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Affection; kind feeling; friendship; strong liking
or desire; fondness; good will; -- opposed to hate; often with of and
an object.

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Due gratitude and reverence to God.

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The object of affection; -- often employed in endearing address.

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Cupid, the god of love; sometimes, Venus.

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A thin silk stuff.

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A climbing species of Clematis (C. Vitalba).

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Nothing; no points scored on one side; -- used in counting score at tennis, etc.

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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.

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To regard with passionate and devoted affection, as that of one sex for the other.

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To take delight or pleasure in; to have a strong
liking or desire for, or interest in; to be pleased with; to like; as,
to love books; to love adventures.

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To have the feeling of love; to be in love

Love Translations



love in Dutch is beminnen, houden van, liefhebben
love in Finnish is rakastaa
love in French is aimez, aiment, aimer, aimons, amour
love in German is Liebe, Liebe, lieben, lieben
love in Hungarian is semmi (teniszben), szerelem, szeretet
love in Italian is amore, amare
love in Latin is amor, diligo
love in Portuguese is amor
love in Spanish is amor, amar, cari o

Poem: THE DEFINITION OF LOVE. by Andrew Marvell I. MY Love is of a birth as rare As 'tis, for object, strange and high ; It was begotten by Despair, Upon Impossibility. II. Magnanimous Despair alone Could show me so divine a thing, Where feeble hope could ne'er have flown, But vainly flapped its tinsel wing. III. And yet I quickly might arrive Where my extended soul is fixed ; But Fate does iron wedges drive, And always crowds itself betwixt. IV. For Fate with jealous eye does see Two perfect loves, nor lets them close ; Their union would her ruin be, And her tyrannic power depose. V. And therefore her decrees of steel Us as the distant poles have placed, (Though Love's whole world on us doth wheel), Not by themselves to be embraced, VI. Unless the giddy heaven fall, And earth some new convulsion tear. And, us to join, the world should all Be cramp'd into a planisphere. VII. As lines, so love's oblique, may well Themselves in every angle greet : But ours, so truly parallel, Though infinite, can never meet. VIII. Therefore the love which us doth bind, But Fate so enviously debars, Is the conjunction of the mind, And opposition of the stars.

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Source:
Marvell, Andrew. The Poems of Andrew Marvell.
G. A. Aitken, Ed. London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1892. 73-74.

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