loving

See also: Loving

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English lovyng(e) (“love”), inherited from Old English lufung. By surface analysis, love +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• enPR: lŭv′ĭng
• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada, Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈlʌv.ɪŋ/

  Audio (US):

  (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈlɐv.ɪŋ/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈlɐv.əŋ/
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈləv.ɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ʌvɪŋ
• Hyphenation: lov‧ing

Noun

loving (usually uncountable, plural lovings)

1. The action of the verb to love. (Can we clean up⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 132, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     all natural lovings and longings

Adjective

loving (comparative lovinger or more loving, superlative lovingest or most loving)

2. Expressing a large amount of love to other people; affectionate.

   Synonyms: adoring, affectionate; see also Thesaurus:affectionate

   his loving wife, her loving husband

4. (attributive, slang, US) Euphemistic form of fucking.
   • 1962, John Oliver Killens, “Part I [1]: The Planting Season — Chapter 2”, in And Then We Heard The Thunder (Books for Young Readers)‎^[1], 1st edition, quoted in Green's Dictionary of Slang, New York City, NY: Alfred A[braham]. Knopf, Inc[orporated]., published 1964, →ISBN, →OL, page 13, lines 25–27:

     I want you to have every loving brother’s sister’s cousin’s child downstairs and standing at attention at six o’clock.

   • 1966, David Halberstam, one very hot day‎^[2], quoted in Green's Dictionary of Slang, Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, published 1967, page 51, lines 26–27:

     “Anderson,” said Beaupre, “you think we’re going to see any lovin’ Viet Congs today?”

   • 1977, John Langone, Life at the Bottom: The People of Antarctica‎^[3], 1st edition, quoted in Green's Dictionary of Slang, Boston—Toronto: Little, Brown and Company, published 1977, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 76, lines 26–27:

     “ Eat and drink like a loving pig,” he says, patting the bulge under his parka.

   • 1995, John Sack, Company C: The Real War in Iraq‎^[4], 1st edition, quoted in Green's Dictionary of Slang, New York City, NY: William Morrow & Company, published 1995, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, →Goodreads, page 151, line 18:

     At long lovin’ last!

Derived terms

• boyloving
• catloving
• everloving
• lovingkindness
• lovingly
• lovingness
• motherloving
• nonloving
• unloving

Translations

expressing a large amount of love — see also affectionate

• Arabic: مُحِبّ (ar) (muḥibb), وَدُود (wadūd)
• Armenian: սիրող (hy) (siroġ)
• Catalan: amorós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 爱心 (zh) (àixīn), 愛心 / 爱心 (zh) (àixīn)

• Czech: milující (cs)
• Esperanto: ama (eo), amema, amplena
• Finnish: rakastava (fi)
• French: aimant (fr)
• Galician: amoroso
• Georgian: მოსიყვარულე (mosiq̇varule)
• German: liebend (de)
• Greek: στοργικός (el) (storgikós)
• Hungarian: szerető (hu)
• Irish: grámhar, cionmhar, ceanúil, armacach, muirneach
• Italian: amoroso (it), amorevole (it)
• Japanese: 愛する (ja) (あいする, ai-suru)
• Māori: mateoha
• Polish: kochający m sg or vir pl, kochająca f sg, kochające n sg or nvir pl
• Portuguese: amoroso (pt)
• Russian: лю́бящий (ru) (ljúbjaščij), любвеобильный (ru) (ljubveobilʹnyj)
• Spanish: cariñoso (es), amoroso (es), querendón (es)
• Swedish: kärleksfull (sv), öm (sv)
• Ukrainian: люблячий (ljubljačyj)

fucking — see fucking

Verb

loving

1. present participle and gerund of love

Derived terms

terms derived from all parts of speech

• bird-loving
• ever-loving
• fun-loving
• loving cup
• loving-kindness
• loving kindness
• same gender loving
• same-gender-loving
• tender loving care
• water-loving

Further reading

• “loving”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• voling

Middle English

Noun

loving

1. alternative form of lovynge (“praise”)