paramour

plural paramours

1. archaicA person who is the object of one's love, especially in an affair or romance; a lover; also, a sexual partner.

   It vvas no ſeaſon then for her [Nature] / To vvanton vvith the Sun her luſty Paramour.

   1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, The Hymn, stanza I, page 3

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   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.

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 35, page 215

   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, […]

   1796, Edmund Burke, “Letter I. On the Overtures of Peace.”, in Two Letters Addressed to a Member of the Present Parliament on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France, London: […] F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], published 20 October 1796, →OCLC, page 107

   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.

   1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter XIII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 220

   "That is wicked, or rather, villainous: Queen Madásima was a very distinguished lady, and it should not be assumed that so high a princess would become the paramour of a sawbones or a quack, and whoever believes the contrary is lying, like the base scoundrel he is.

   Part 1 published in 1605, Part 2 in 1615, translated in 2003, Miguel de Cervantes and translated by Edith Grossman, Don Quixote, page 189

   Synonyms: admirer, adorer, baby, beloved, courter, crush, darling, enamorado

2. broadlydatedA 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.

   to run away with a paramour

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   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, […]

   a. 1548 (date written), Edward Hall, Richard Grafton, “[The Triumphant Reigne of Kyng Henry the VIII.] The Determinacion of the Facultie of Diuinitie in the Vniuersitie of Padua in Italy.”, in The Vnion of the Two Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre & Yorke, […], London: […] Rychard Grafton, […] [and Steven Mierdman], published 1550, →OCLC, folio cc, verso

   I ſue not novv, thy Paramoure to be, / But as a husband to be linck'd to thee.

   1598, Michaell [i.e., Michael] Drayton, “Edwarde the Blacke Prince to Alice Countesse of Salisbury”, in Englands Heroicall Epistles. Newly Enlarged, revised edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for N[icholas] Ling, […], →OCLC, folio 28, verso

   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.

   1664, H[enry] More, chapter XXI, in Synopsis Prophetica; or, The Second Part of the Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity: […], London: […] James Flesher, for William Morden […], →OCLC, book II, page 467

   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].

   1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter V, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 529

   [G]ive them / Their dowers, according to what / Is reasonable: they should be chaste, not lustful, nor taking paramours: […]

   1934, “Sūra IV, Section 3”, in Abdullah Yusuf Ali, transl., The Holy Qur’an: Translation and Commentary, [Birmingham, Warwickshire]: Islamic Propagation Centre International, published [1946], →OCLC, verse 25, pages 187–188, column 1

3. broadlyhistoricalA woman who is the object of a knight's love, and who he fights for.

   Chloris, the Queene of Flovvers; / The ſvveetneſſe of all Shovvres; / The ornament of Bovvres; / The top of Par-amours!

   1631, [Ben Jonson], Chloridia. Rites to Chloris and Her Nymphs. […], London: […] Thomas Walkley, →OCLC, signature C, verso

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   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; […]

   1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC, page 33

4. broadlyobsoleteChristianityGod as the object of a person's devotion or love.

   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.

   1581, Iohn Marbeck [i.e., John Merbecke], “Of Womens Apparell”, in A Booke of Notes and Common Places, with Their Expositions, Collected and Gathered out of the Workes of Diuers Singular Writers, and Brought Alphabetically into Order. […], London: […] Thomas East, →OCLC, page 1171

present singular third person paramours · participle present paramouring · participle past paramoured · past paramoured

1. datedintransitiveTo have an illicit or secret affair with a person, especially someone who is not one's spouse.

   [I]ndeed a daughter is better ill married, then vvell Paramour'd.

   1620, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Of the Wise and Pleasant Discourse, that Passed betwixt Sancho Pansa and His Wife Teresa Pansa, and Other Accidents Worthy of Happy Remembrance”, in Thomas Shelton, transl., The Second Part of the History of the Valorous and Witty Knight-errant, Don Quixote of the Mancha. […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Edward Blount, →OCLC, part 2, page 29

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   [W]ine loued I deeply, dice deerely, and in vvoman out paromord the Turke, […]

   [c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], signature G2, recto

   [pages 277–278] A bridle shreded from the skin of an unbaptized infant, with bits forged in Satan’s armoury, possessed irresistible power when shaken above any living thing. […] At midnight, his mistress cautiously approaching his bed-side, shook the charmed bridle over his face, saying ‘Up Horsie,’ when, to his utter astonishment, he arose in the form of a gray horse! […] [page 280] To ride post on the human body was a privilege enjoyed only by those who paramoured with Satan.

   1810, R[obert] H[artley] Cromek, “Appendix (E), p. 59. History of Witchcraft, Sketched from the Popular Tales of the Peasantry of Nithsdale and Galloway.”, in Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song: With Historical and Traditional Notices Relative to the Manners and Customs of the Peasantry, London: […] [F]or T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, […], by T[homas] Bensley, […], →OCLC, pages 277–278 and 280

   [T]he dissection of Charlie Borthwick's character was instantly resumed by Mrs M'Kittrick, who declared that he might ha'e found better employment at hame, than paramouring wi' the like o' Widow M'Cauchie.

   1822 December, “Anonymous Literature. No. I. Charlie Borthwick’s Rade.”, in The Edinburgh Magazine, and Literary Miscellany, […], volume XI, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable & Company, →OCLC, page 723, column 1

   The paramouring matron left / A babe and husband both bereft; […]

   1842 October, J. de J[ean] [pseudonym; John de Jean Fraser], “The Stranger in His Native Place. (A Sketch from Life.)”, in The Dublin Monthly Magazine; Being a New Series of The Citizen, […], volume I, part 2, Dublin: Samuel J. Machen, […], →OCLC, page 213, column 2

   I do not think I am fit to marry, to make an obedient wife or affectionate mother; my imagination is paramoured with me, and would disqualify me, I think, for the every-day, matter-of-fact cares and duties of the mistress of a household and the head of a family.

   1876 March, Frances Anne Kemble, “Old Woman’s Gossip. VIII.”, in The Atlantic Monthly: A Magazine of Literature, Science, Art, and Politics, volume XXXVII, number CCXXI, Boston, Mass.: H[enry] O[scar] Houghton and Company; New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC, page 320, column 1

alternative paramours

1. not comparableobsoleteOf loving, etc.: out of or through romantic feeling or sexual desire; passionately.

   Because you love par amours, is it reasonable you should throw away your life and ours?

   1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume II (The Betrothed), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 273

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   […] Cleopatra, doughter of Ptolomee late kinge of Egypt (whome Ceſar [Julius Caesar] in his lyfe helde for his Concubine) the ſame lady Antoni [Mark Antony] (with whome Octauiane [later Augustus] deuided the empire) loued alſo peramours, abandonynge his wyfe, whiche was ſuſter to Octauian.

   1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Sobrietie in Diete”, in The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio 232, recto

   Wolnoth is bound par-amours, to a certain fair Norman dame; and, I trow well, prefers her charms here to the thought of his return.

   1848, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter III, in Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book IX (The Bones of the Dead), page 325

   Synonyms: devotedly, passionately

2. not comparableobsoleteUsed chiefly when addressing someone: out of or through devotion or kindness; as a favour or kindness.

   [T]he Lord Chiefe Iuſtice ſtood vp, and forbad the proceedings, alotting Paramour the Lands vvith the ſatiſfying of the plaintifes, and thereupon commanded Nailor to giue Thorn againe his Gauntlet, vvhich he vnvvillingly did; and ſo the Combate being ended, vve may haue leaue to proceed.

   1611, Iohn Speed [i.e., John Speed], “Elizabeth Queene of England, France and Ireland, […]”, in The History of Great Britaine under the Conquests of yͤ Romans, Saxons, Danes and Normans. […], London: […] William Hall and John Beale, for John Sudbury and George Humble, […], →OCLC, book IX ([Englands Monarchs] […]), paragraph 138, pages 851–852