Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LOVE, n.

1. An affection of the mind excited by beauty and worth of any kind, or by the qualities of an object which communicate pleasure, sensual or intellectual. It is opposed to hatred. Love between the sexes, is a compound affection, consisting of esteem, benevolence, and animal desire. Love is excited by pleasing qualities of any kind, as by kindness, benevolence, charity, and by the qualities which render social intercourse agreeable. In the latter case, love is ardent friendship, or a strong attachment springing from good will and esteem, and the pleasure derived from the company, civilities and kindnesses of others. Between certain natural relatives, love seems to be in some cases instinctive. Such is the love of a mother for her child, which manifests itself toward an infant, before any particular qualities in the child are unfolded. This affection is apparently as strong in irrational animals as in human beings. We speak of the love of amusement, the love of books, the love of money, and the love of whatever contributes to our pleasure or supposed profit. The love of God is the first duty of man, and this springs from just views of his attributes or excellencies of character, which afford the highest delight to the sanctified heart. Esteem and reverence constitute ingredients in this affection, and a fear of offending him is its inseparable effect.
2. Courtship; chiefly in the phrase, to make love, that is, to court; to woo; to solicit union in marriage.
3. Patriotism; the attachment one has to his native land; as, the love of country.
4. Benevolence; good will. God is love. 1 John iv.
5. The object beloved. The lover and the loved of human kind. – Pope.
6. A word of endearment. Trust me, love. – Dryden.
7. Picturesque representation of love. Such was his form as painters, when they show / Their utmost art, on naked loves bestow. – Dryden.
8. Lewdness. He is not lolling on a lewd love-bed. – Shak.
9. A thin silk stuff. [Obs.] – Boyle. Love in idleness, a kind of violet. – Shak. Free of love, a plant of the genus Cercis. – Fam. of Plants.