To regard with a strong feeling of affection; hold dear; have a strong regard for.Specifically, to regard (one of the opposite sex) with the admiration and devotion characteristic of the sexual relation; be in love with.To have a strong liking, craving, or appetite for; like; take pleasure in; delight in: followed by a noun or an infinitive.To caress; show affection by caresses: a childish use of the word.To have strong affection; especially, to be passionately attached to one of the opposite sex.n. The principle of sympathetic or pleasurable attraction in sentient and thinking beings; that feeling of predilection or solicitude for, or delight in, certain individuals or classes, principles, qualities, or things, which excites a strong desire or craving for the welfare, companionship, possession, enjoyment, or promotion of its object or objects; the yearning desire (whether right or perverted) for what is thought to be best in any relation or from any point of view.n. Intimate personal affection between individuals of opposite sex capable of intermarriage; the emotional incentive to and normal basis of conjugal union: as, to be in love; to marry for love.n. A beloved person; an object of affectionate interest, as a sweetheart or a husband or wife: often also used in address as a term of endearment.n. [capitalized] A personification of the passion of love; sexual attraction imagined as an independent power external to its subject: applied especially to Cupid (more properly Amor) or Eros, the classical god of love, and more rarely to Venus or Aphrodite, the goddess of love.n. An embodiment or a representation of Cupid; one of a class of beings poetically imagined as devoted to the interests of lovers, and depicted as winged boys.n. Gratification of a sexual passion or desire, as in an illicit relation.n. A kindness; something done in token of love.n. A thin silk stuff. One variety, soft and translucent, was used for veils. See love-ribbon.n. In some games, nothing: a term indicating that no points have been scored: as, the game was two, love (that is, two points on one side and nothing on the other); love all (all the players have failed to score).n. An old game in which one holds up one or more fingers, and another, without looking, guesses at the number.n. The plant Clematis Vitalba, the virgin's-bower or traveler's-joy.n. Synonyms and Love, Liking, Predilection, Attachment, Affection, Fondness, Devotion; friendship, kindness, tenderness, delight, partiality, charity (theological). As between persons, love is the most general of these words, covering much the widest range, both in degree and in kind. Liking is the weakest. Predilection goes a little further, but is only a preparatory liking or readiness to love. Attachment has much of the notion implied in its derivation; it is a love that binds one to another, an unwillingness to be separated. Affection is generally a regulated and conscious love or attachment; it goes deeper than attachment. Attachment and especially affection are often the refined and mellowed fruit of the passion of love. Fondness, originally a foolish tenderness, is not yet altogether redeemed from that idea; it may be an unreasoning and doting attachment, and is never very high in quality. Devotion is a sort of consecration or dedication to the object of one's feeling, an intense loyalty, as to a superior—a constant service. See esteem.To praise; commend.To praise as of value; prize; set a price on.n. In Tasmania, the blue-creeper, Comesperma volubile.