DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan
Love n.
1. A feeling of strong attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration; preëminent kindness or devotion to another; affection; tenderness; as, the love of brothers and sisters.
Of all the dearest bonds we prove
Thou countest sons' and mothers' love
Most sacred, most Thine own. --Keble.
2. Especially, devoted attachment to, or tender or passionate affection for, one of the opposite sex.
He on his side
Leaning half-raised, with looks of cordial love
Hung over her enamored. --Milton.
3. Courtship; -- chiefly in the phrase to make love, i. e., to court, to woo, to solicit union in marriage.
Demetrius . . .
Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena,
And won her soul. --Shak.
4. Affection; kind feeling; friendship; strong liking or desire; fondness; good will; -- opposed to hate; often with of and an object.
Love, and health to all. --Shak.
Smit with the love of sacred song. --Milton.
The love of science faintly warmed his breast. --Fenton.
5. Due gratitude and reverence to God.
Keep yourselves in the love of God. --Jude 21.
6. The object of affection; -- often employed in endearing address; as, he held his love in his arms; his greatest love was reading. “Trust me, love.”
Open the temple gates unto my love. --Spenser.
7. Cupid, the god of love; sometimes, Venus.
Such was his form as painters, when they show
Their utmost art, on naked Lores bestow. --Dryden.
Therefore do nimble-pinioned doves draw Love. --Shak.
8. A thin silk stuff. [Obs.]
9. Bot. A climbing species of Clematis (Clematis Vitalba).
10. Nothing; no points scored on one side; -- used in counting score at tennis, etc.
He won the match by three sets to love. --The Field.
Note: ☞ Love is often used in the formation of compounds, in most of which the meaning is very obvious; as, love-cracked, love-darting, love-killing, love-linked, love-taught, etc.
A labor of love, a labor undertaken on account of regard for some person, or through pleasure in the work itself, without expectation of reward.
Free love, the doctrine or practice of consorting with one of the opposite sex, at pleasure, without marriage. See Free love.
Free lover, one who avows or practices free love.
In love, in the act of loving; -- said esp. of the love of the sexes; as, to be in love; to fall in love.
Love apple Bot., the tomato.
Love bird Zool., any one of several species of small, short-tailed parrots, or parrakeets, of the genus Agapornis, and allied genera. They are mostly from Africa. Some species are often kept as cage birds, and are celebrated for the affection which they show for their mates.
Love broker, a person who for pay acts as agent between lovers, or as a go-between in a sexual intrigue. --Shak.
Love charm, a charm for exciting love. --Ld. Lytton.
Love child. an illegitimate child. --Jane Austen.
Love day, a day formerly appointed for an amicable adjustment of differences. [Obs.] --Piers Plowman. --Chaucer.
Love drink, a love potion; a philter. --Chaucer.
Love favor, something given to be worn in token of love.
Love feast, a religious festival, held quarterly by some religious denominations, as the Moravians and Methodists, in imitation of the agapæ of the early Christians.
Love feat, the gallant act of a lover. --Shak.
Love game, a game, as in tennis, in which the vanquished person or party does not score a point.
Love grass.
Love-in-a-mist. Bot. (a) An herb of the Buttercup family (Nigella Damascena) having the flowers hidden in a maze of finely cut bracts. (b) The West Indian Passiflora fœtida, which has similar bracts.
Love-in-idleness Bot., a kind of violet; the small pansy.
A little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound;
And maidens call it love-in-idleness. --Shak.
-- Love juice, juice of a plant supposed to produce love. --Shak.
Love knot, a knot or bow, as of ribbon; -- so called from being used as a token of love, or as a pledge of mutual affection. --Milman.
Love lass, a sweetheart.
Love letter, a letter of courtship. --Shak.
Love-lies-bleeding Bot., a species of amaranth (Amarantus melancholicus).
Love match, a marriage brought about by love alone.
Love potion, a compounded draught intended to excite love, or venereal desire.
Love rites, sexual intercourse. --Pope
Love scene, an exhibition of love, as between lovers on the stage.
Love suit, courtship. --Shak.
Of all loves, for the sake of all love; by all means. [Obs.] “Mrs. Arden desired him of all loves to come back again.” --Holinshed.
The god of love, or The Love god, Cupid.
To make love, to engage in sexual intercourse; -- a euphemism.
To make love to, to express affection for; to woo. “If you will marry, make your loves to me.” --Shak.
To play for love, to play a game, as at cards, without stakes. “A game at piquet for love.” --Lamb.
Syn: -- Affection; friendship; kindness; tenderness; fondness; delight.
To·ma·to n.; pl. Tomatoes Bot. The fruit of a plant of the Nightshade family (Lycopersicum esculentun); also, the plant itself. The fruit, which is called also love apple, is usually of a rounded, flattened form, but often irregular in shape. It is of a bright red or yellow color, and is eaten either cooked or uncooked.
Tomato gall Zool., a large gall consisting of a mass of irregular swellings on the stems and leaves of grapevines. They are yellowish green, somewhat tinged with red, and produced by the larva of a small two-winged fly (Lasioptera vitis).
Tomato sphinx Zool., the adult or imago of the tomato worm. It closely resembles the tobacco hawk moth. Called also tomato hawk moth. See Illust. of Hawk moth.
Tomato worm Zool., the larva of a large hawk moth (Manduca quinquemaculata, Protoparce quinquemaculata, Sphinx quinquemaculata, or Macrosila quinquemaculata) which feeds upon the leaves of the tomato and potato plants, often doing considerable damage. Called also tomato hornworm and potato worm, and in the Southern U. S. tobacco fly.
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Ap·ple n.
1. The fleshy pome or fruit of a rosaceous tree (Pyrus malus) cultivated in numberless varieties in the temperate zones.
Note: ☞ The European crab apple is supposed to be the original kind, from which all others have sprung.
2. bot. Any tree genus Pyrus which has the stalk sunken into the base of the fruit; an apple tree.
3. Any fruit or other vegetable production resembling, or supposed to resemble, the apple; as, apple of love, or love apple (a tomato), balsam apple, egg apple, oak apple.
4. Anything round like an apple; as, an apple of gold.
Note: Apple is used either adjectively or in combination; as, apple paper or apple-paper, apple-shaped, apple blossom, apple dumpling, apple pudding.
Apple blight, an aphid which injures apple trees. See Blight, n.
Apple borer Zool., a coleopterous insect (Saperda candida or Saperda bivittata), the larva of which bores into the trunk of the apple tree and pear tree.
Apple brandy, brandy made from apples.
Apple butter, a sauce made of apples stewed down in cider. --Bartlett.
Apple corer, an instrument for removing the cores from apples.
Apple fly Zool., any dipterous insect, the larva of which burrows in apples. Apple flies belong to the genera Drosophila and Trypeta.
Apple midge Zool. a small dipterous insect (Sciara mali), the larva of which bores in apples.
Apple of the eye, the pupil.
Apple of discord, a subject of contention and envy, so called from the mythological golden apple, inscribed “For the fairest,” which was thrown into an assembly of the gods by Eris, the goddess of discord. It was contended for by Juno, Minerva, and Venus, and was adjudged to the latter.
Apple of love, or Love apple, the tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum).
Apple of Peru, a large coarse herb (Nicandra physaloides) bearing pale blue flowers, and a bladderlike fruit inclosing a dry berry.
Apples of Sodom, a fruit described by ancient writers as externally of fair appearance but dissolving into smoke and ashes when plucked; Dead Sea apples. The name is often given to the fruit of Solanum Sodomæum, a prickly shrub with fruit not unlike a small yellow tomato.
Apple sauce, stewed apples. [U. S.]
Apple snail or Apple shell Zool., a fresh-water, operculated, spiral shell of the genus Ampullaria.
Apple tart, a tart containing apples.
Apple tree, a tree which naturally bears apples. See Apple, 2.
Apple wine, cider.
Apple worm Zool., the larva of a small moth (Carpocapsa pomonella) which burrows in the interior of apples. See Codling moth.
Dead Sea Apple. (a) pl. Apples of Sodom. Also Fig. “To seek the Dead Sea apples of politics.” --S. B. Griffin. (b) A kind of gallnut coming from Arabia. See Gallnut.
love apple
n : native to South America; widely cultivated in many varieties
[syn: tomato, tomato plant, Lycopersicon esculentum]