Word.ws English Dictionary

light-of-love

light-of-love is the alternative form of light-o'-love.

Meaning of light-o'-love

Noun

light-o'-love (plural lights-o'-love)

  1. An old dance tune, whose name made it a proverbial expression of levity, especially in love matters.
    • Best sing it to the tune of light o' love.c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  2. Someone who is inconstant in love; a flirt.
    • You light-o'-love, a word or two.1626 February 13 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, “The Noble Gentleman”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey...
  3. A promiscuous woman; a prostitute; a mistress or female lover.
    • Thus they fared, one after another, as the light-o'-love dame introduced them into her chamber, so that no one ventured to come near her.1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth

Questions about light-of-love

What is light-of-love the alternative form of?
Light-of-love is the alternative form of light-o'-love.

Words near light-of-love in the dictionary

  1. light-mindedness
  2. light-mouthed
  3. light-nanosecond
  4. light-nanoseconds
  5. light-o'-love
  6. light-of-love
  7. light-off temperature
  8. light-off temperatures
  9. light-polluted
  10. light-scattering photometry
  11. light-sensitive

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: light-of-love (page history and authors); light-o'-love (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “light-of-love.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/light-of-love. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.