beloved - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English beloved, biloved, equivalent to belove +‎ -ed.

Predicative adjective and past participle

Attributive adjective and noun

beloved (comparative more beloved or beloveder, superlative most beloved or belovedest)

  1. Much loved, dearly loved.
    Antonym: beloathed
    • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, pages 187–188:
      But I found at laſt, by hearing and conſidering of things that are Divine, which indeed I heard of you, as alſo of beloved Faithful, that was put to death for his Faith and good-living in Vanity-fair, That the end of these things is death. [Rom[ans] 6. 21, 22, 23.] And that for theſe things ſake, the wrath of God cometh upon the children of diſobedience. [Eph[esians] 5. 6.]
    • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Æsop, &c.] Fab[le] CLXXXV. Jupiters Wedding.”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC, page 155:
      When the Toy had once taken Jupiter in the Head to Enter into a State of Matrimony, he Reſolv'd for the Honour of his Celeſtial Lady, that the whole World ſhould keep a Feſtiual upon the Day of his Marriage, and ſo Invited all Living Creatures, Tag-Rag and Bob-Tail, to the Solemnity to his Wedding. They all came in very Good Time, ſaving the Tortoiſe. Jupiter […] Ask'd him, Why ſo Late? Why truly ſays the Tortoiſe, I was at Home, at my Own Houſe, my Dearly Beloved Houſe, and [_Home is Home, let it be never ſo Homely._]
    • 1765, Thomas Percy, compiler, “The Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington”, in Reliques of Ancient English Poetry: […], volume III, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, book II, page 133, lines 1–4:
      There was a youthe, and a well-beloved youthe, / And he was a ſquires ſon: / He loved the bayliffes daughter deare, / That lived in Iſlington.
    • 1840 June 2, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “To Miss Peabody”, in Love Letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Chicago, Ill.: The Society of the Dofobs, published 1907, →OCLC, page 201:
      Belovedest, I know not what counsel to give thee about calling on my sisters; and therefore must leave the matter to thine own exquisite sense of what is right and delicate.
    • 1916 July 13, Alan Scrivener Lloyd, Lloyd File, London: Imperial War Museum; quoted in Malcolm Brown, “Somme Summer”, in The Imperial War Museum Book of the Somme, London: Sidgwick & Jackson in association with The Imperial War Museum, 1996, published 1997, →ISBN, page 149:
      Don’t worry, belovedest little angel, all is going quite well and Hub takes ever such care.
    • 1963, Horace, translated by Nicholas Kilmer, “A Lover’s Complaint (Horace, Epode XII)”, in William Arrowsmith, D. S. Carne-Ross, J. P. Sullivan, Frederic Will, editors, Arion: A Quarterly Journal of Classical Culture, Austin, Tex.: Dean of the Graduate School, The University of Texas, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 56:
      Sheep woolly skins were dunked and dunked again, / And for whose coming? Nobody’s but yours; / So no-one else’s party boy would look / Beloveder to his than you to me.
    • 1964 March, “Train braking - the next steps”, in Modern Railways, page 186:
      The vacuum brake, much beloved by English- (though not Scottish-) built or inspired railways, but little favoured elsewhere.
    • 2014, Niall MacLeòid, “The Death of the Widow's Child”, in Meg Bateman, Anne Loughran, editors, Bàird Ghleann Dail = The Glendale Bards: A Selection of Songs and Poems by Niall MacLeòid (1843–1913), ‘The Bard of Skye’, His Brother Ian Dubh (1847–1901) and Their Father Dòmhnall nan Òran (c. 1787–1873), Edinburgh: John Donald, →ISBN, verse 4:
      In yonder corner your little chair, / where you often sat at my knee, / singing your sweet murmuring hymns, / my belovèd child!

much loved

beloved (plural beloveds)

  1. Someone who is loved; something that is loved.
    Antonym: beloathed

someone who is loved

beloved

  1. (obsolete) simple past and past participle of belove.
    • 1547, The Order of the Communion. With the Kings Majesties Proclamation, London: Imprinted [...] by Richard Grafton, →OCLC, page 4:
      Dearly beloved in the Lord, ye coming to his holy Communion, must consider what St. Paul writeth to the Corinthians, how he exhorteth all persons diligently to try and examine themselves, or ever they presume to eat of this bread, and drink of this Cup: […]
    • 1747, Thomas Birch, “William Lord Russel”, in The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, Engraven by Mr. [Jacobus] Houbraken, and Mr. [George] Vertue. With Their Lives and Characters, volume I, London: Printed for John and Paul Knapton, →OCLC, page 124:
      He [William Russell, Lord Russell] was a man of great candour and of a general reputation, univerſally beloved and truſted; of a generous and obliging temper.
    • 1760, Delahay Gordon, “The Life and Death of Mary Queen of Scots”, in A General History of the Lives, Trials, and Executions of All the Royal and Noble Personages, that have Suffered in Great-Britain and Ireland for High Treason, or Other Crimes, from the Accession of Henry VIII. to the Throne of England, down to the Present Time; [...], volume II, London: Printed for J. Burd, opposite St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet-Street, →OCLC, page 108:
      [B]eing a plain and honeſt-minded man, […] he [Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox] loſt the favour of the French king in a ſhort time; and, when he could neither continue at home, nor return into France, he came into England, and ſubmitted himſelf to Henry VIII, who accepted him as a man well-beloved in the weſt borders, and acknowledged him as next heir to the crown of Scotland, after Mary then an infant, […]
    • 1800, Schultz; [Benjamin Beresford, translator], “The Wooer”, in A Collection of German Ballads and Songs with Their Original Music, Done into English, 2nd edition, Berlin: [Printed by G. F. Starke and] sold by H. Frölich, and by Messieurs Baumgärtners, Leipsic, →OCLC, stanza I, page 29:
      With auburn locks and killing eyes, / A laſs tripp'd o'er the mead. / The day declin'd; soft blush'd the skies, / And warblings fill'd the glade. / I nought but her could hear and see.— / Belov'd, I swear, the maid shall be, / Forever and for aye by me!