light-o'-love
Americannoun
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a lover.
-
a prostitute.
Etymology
Origin of light-o'-love
First recorded in 1570–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hylas, the not exactly "comic man," but light-o'-love and inconstant shepherd, was rather a bone of contention among critics of the book's own century.
From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 1 From the Beginning to 1800 by Saintsbury, George
A man of letters who would parody his early style is no better than the ancient light-o'-love who wears a wig and reddens her cheeks.
From Confessions of a Young Man by Moore, George (George Augustus)
Land of the Greater Love—men call it this; No light-o'-love sets here an ambuscade; No tender torture of the secret kiss Makes sick the spirit and the soul afraid.
From The Money Master, Complete by Parker, Gilbert
My melancholy is like her's—the ancient light-o'-love of whom I spoke just now, when she sits by the fire in the dusk, a miniature of her past self in her hand.
From Confessions of a Young Man by Moore, George (George Augustus)
She is no light-o'-love, my lord, but a good and honest maiden; and I would be the last to sully her purity by word or deed.
From Agincourt The Works of G. P. R. James, Volume XX by James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
