paramour
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: Christianity
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.
Inflected forms:
form: paramours
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: A person who is the object of one's love, especially in an affair or romance; a lover; also, a sexual partner.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
examples: 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.
It vvas no ſeaſon then for her [Nature] / To vvanton vvith the Sun her luſty Paramour.
Their ſociety vvas more like that of a den of outlavvs upon a doubtful frontier; of a levvd tavern for the revels and debauches of banditti, aſſaſſins, bravos, ſmugglers, and their more deſperate paramours, mixed vvith bombaſtick players, the refuſe and rejected offal of ſtrolling theatres, […]
Yes, in […] these very halls, to have lived the paramour of their murderer, the slave at once and the partaker of his pleasures, was to render every breath which I drew of vital air, a crime and a curse.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
dated
examples: to run away with a paramour
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, […]
I ſue not novv, thy Paramoure to be, / But as a husband to be linck'd to thee.
You vvould believe that the Images of Men-Saints vvere ſome Princes of Perſia-land vvith their proud Apparel; and the Idols of our VVomen-Saints vvere nice vvell-trimmed Harlots tempting their Paramours to vvantonneſs.
A scene unparalleled in our legal history was exhibited in the Court of King's Bench. The seducer [Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville] appeared with dauntless front, accompanied by his paramour [Lady Henrietta Berkeley, his wife's sister].
[G]ive them / Their dowers, according to what / Is reasonable: they should be chaste, not lustful, nor taking paramours: […]
The action scenes are deafening and punchily staged by director Louis Leterrier (The Transporter), though I wish he'd set more time aside to spend with Nobby, his paramour Dawn (Rebel Wilson), their shaven-headed brood, and friends.
gloss: A woman who is the object of a knight's love, and who he fights for.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
historical
examples: 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; […]
Chloris, the Queene of Flovvers; / The ſvveetneſſe of all Shovvres; / The ornament of Bovvres; / The top of Par-amours!
gloss: God as the object of a person's devotion or love.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
obsolete
examples: 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.
Derived words: out-paramour
out-paramour the Turk
Translations: