paramour
nounEtymology
The adverb is derived from Middle English par amour, paramore, paramours (“with sexual desire or love, passionately; in a courteous or friendly manner”), from Anglo-Norman par amur (“in a friendly or willing manner”) and Old French par amur, par amour, paramours (“by or through love”) (modern French par amour), from par (“by; through; etc.”) (from Latin per (“by means of, through”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; etc.”)) + amor, amur (“love”, noun) (from Latin amōrem, the accusative singular of amor (“desire, lust; affection, love”), from amō (“to love”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- (“to grasp, seize; to take hold; to touch; etc.”)) + -or (suffix forming abstract nouns)). The noun is from Middle English paramour, paramoure, paramur, peramour (“wife; concubine; mistress; husband; male lover; darling, sweetheart; romantic love; sexual passion; (Christianity) Jesus Christ; the Virgin Mary; divine or spiritual love”), from par amour, paramore (adverb) (see above), possibly from a misinterpretation of to love paramour(s) (“to love passionately”) to mean “to love a beloved person”. The verb is partly from both of the following: * From Middle English paramouren (“to love (someone)”), probably derived from the adverb (see above). The Middle English word is only attested in one (possibly 15th-century) source and does not appear to have been used again until the 17th century; compare William Shakespeare's use of out-paramour in King Lear (written c. 1603–1606): see the 1608 quotation. * Uses from the 17th century onwards are probably derived from the noun.
Definitions
A person who is the object of one's love, especially in an affair or romance
A person who is the object of one's love, especially in an affair or romance; a lover; also, a sexual partner.
- It vvas no ſeaſon then for her [Nature] / To vvanton vvith the Sun her luſty Paramour.
A person (especially someone who is not one's spouse) with whom one has an illicit or…
A person (especially someone who is not one's spouse) with whom one has an illicit or secret affair; also (Scotland, US, law), one with whom a married person has an adulterous affair.
- to run away with a paramour
- I ſue not novv, thy Paramoure to be, / But as a husband to be linck'd to thee.
A woman who is the object of a knight's love, and who he fights for.
- It is the leaſt of his famous aduentures, that hee vndertaketh to be Greenes [Robert Greene's?] aduocate: […] He may declare his deere affection to his Paramour; or his pure honeſtye to the vvorld; […]
- Chloris, the Queene of Flovvers; / The ſvveetneſſe of all Shovvres; / The ornament of Bovvres; / The top of Par-amours!
›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer
God as the object of a person's devotion or love.
- Clad you with yͤ ſilke of ſinceritie, with yͤ ſaten [satin] of ſanctitie, with the purple of probitie. Thus prune and pricke vp your ſelues, and God himſelfe ſhall be your paramour, ⁊c.
To have an illicit or secret affair with a person, especially someone who is not one's…
To have an illicit or secret affair with a person, especially someone who is not one's spouse.
- [W]ine loued I deeply, dice deerely, and in vvoman out paromord the Turke, […]
- [I]ndeed a daughter is better ill married, then vvell Paramour'd.
Of loving, etc.
Of loving, etc.: out of or through romantic feeling or sexual desire; passionately.
- Because you love par amours, is it reasonable you should throw away your life and ours?
- Wolnoth is bound par-amours, to a certain fair Norman dame; and, I trow well, prefers her charms here to the thought of his return.
Used chiefly when addressing someone
Used chiefly when addressing someone: out of or through devotion or kindness; as a favour or kindness.
The neighborhood
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for paramour. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA