leaman

Noun

leman (plural lemans)

1. (archaic) One beloved; a lover, a sweetheart of either sex (especially a secret lover; a gallant or mistress).
   • Faire Venus seemde vnto his bed to bring
     Her, whom he waking euermore did weene,
     To be the chastest flowre, that ay did spring
     On earthly braunch, the daughter of a king,
     Now a loose Leman to vile seruice bound[…].1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
2. (often, pejorative) A paramour.
   • '...They are lost, I tell thee, they are lost. For them there is no heaven nor hell, and in neither shall they praise God’s name.’
     ‘Father,’ cried the young Fisherman, ‘thou knowest not what thou sayest. Once in my net I snared the daughter of a King. She is fairer than the morning star, and whiter...1915, Oscar Wilde, A House of Pomegranates: The Fisherman and his Soul

See all 3 meanings of leman