Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Dearly loved.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Loved; greatly loved; dear to the heart.
  • noun One who is greatly loved; one very dear.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • past participle Greatly loved; dear to the heart.
  • noun One greatly loved.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective loved
  • noun someone who is loved; something that is loved

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective dearly loved
  • noun a beloved person; used as terms of endearment

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English biloved, past participle of beloven, to love : bi-, be- + loven, to love; see love.]

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Examples

Comments

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  • I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart against

    The want of you;

    Of squeezing it into little inkdrops,

    And posting it.

    -- Amy Lowell

    October 22, 2007

  • And did you get what

    you wanted from this life, even so?

    I did.

    And what did you want?

    To call myself beloved, to feel myself

    beloved on the earth.

    -- Raymond Carver

    October 22, 2007

  • The Leader stood awhile with head bowed down;

    Then said: "The business badly he recounted

    Who grapples with his hook the sinners yonder."

    And the Friar: "Many of the Devil's vices

    Once heard I at Bologna, and among them,

    That he's a liar and the father of lies."

    Thereat my Leader with great strides went on,

    Somewhat disturbed with anger in his looks;

    Whence from the heavy-laden I departed

    After the prints of his beloved feet.

    -Dante's Divine Comedy

    July 22, 2009