Word: paramour Part of Speech: noun Etymology: The adverb is derived from Middle English par amour, paramore, paramours (“with sexual desire or love, passionately; in a courteous or friendly manner”), from Anglo-Norman par amur (“in a friendly or willing manner”) and Old French par amur, par amour, paramours (“by or through love”) (modern French par amour), from par (“by; through; etc.”) (from Latin per (“by means of, through”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; etc.”)) + amor, amur (“love”, noun) (from Latin amōrem, the accusative singular of amor (“desire, lust; affection, love”), from amō (“to love”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃emh₃- (“to grasp, seize; to take hold; to touch; etc.”)) + -or (suffix forming abstract nouns)). The noun is from Middle English paramour, paramoure, paramur, peramour (“wife; concubine; mistress; husband; male lover; darling, sweetheart; romantic love; sexual passion; (Christianity) Jesus Christ; the Virgin Mary; divine or spiritual love”), from par amour, paramore (adverb) (see above), possibly from a misinterpretation of to love paramour(s) (“to love passionately”) to mean “to love a beloved person”. The verb is partly from both of the following: * From Middle English paramouren (“to love (someone)”), probably derived from the adverb (see above). The Middle English word is only attested in one (possibly 15th-century) source and does not appear to have been used again until the 17th century; compare William Shakespeare's use of out-paramour in King Lear (written c. 1603–1606): see the 1608 quotation. * Uses from the 17th century onwards are probably derived from the noun. Pronunciation: /ˈpæɹəmʊə/, /-mɔː/, /ˈpɛɹəˌmʊ(ə)ɹ/, /-ˌmɔɹ/ 1. A person who is the object of one's love, especially in an affair or romance; a lover; also, a sexual partner. Labels: archaic Example: No ſolace could her Paramour intreat / Her once to ſhovv, ne court, nor dalliaunce, / But vvith bent lovvring brovves, as ſhe vvould threat, / She ſcould, and frovvned vvith frovvard countenaunce, / Vnvvorthy of faire Ladies comely gouernaunce. Example: It vvas no ſeaſon then for her [Nature] / To vvanton vvith the Sun her luſty Paramour. 2. A person (especially someone who is not one's spouse) with whom one has an illicit or secret affair; also (Scotland, US, law), one with whom a married person has an adulterous affair. Labels: broadly, dated Example: to run away with a paramour Example: And if it ſo that ſhe be not his wyfe (bicauſe ſhe was once his brothers wyfe) as your Doctors ſaye and affirme, then no man can excuſe your kynge nor ſaye but that ſhe hath ben euyil handeled, and kepte lyke a Concubine or Paramour for the bodely appetite, which is a great ſpotte, ſhame, ⁊ rebuke to her and to her whole lynage, […] 3. A woman who is the object of a knight's love, and who he fights for. Labels: broadly, historical Example: It is the leaſt of his famous aduentures, that hee vndertaketh to be Greenes [Robert Greene's?] aduocate: […] He may declare his deere affection to his Paramour; or his pure honeſtye to the vvorld; […] Example: Chloris, the Queene of Flovvers; / The ſvveetneſſe of all Shovvres; / The ornament of Bovvres; / The top of Par-amours! 4. God as the object of a person's devotion or love. Labels: broadly, obsolete Example: Clad you with yͤ ſilke of ſinceritie, with yͤ ſaten [satin] of ſanctitie, with the purple of probitie. Thus prune and pricke vp your ſelues, and God himſelfe ſhall be your paramour, ⁊c.