Goo-goo is seemingly one of a metric ton of synonyms for loving and affectionate in English. It’s almost always encountered in the phrase “goo-goo eyes,” implying a foolishly sentimental, romantic, or amorous glance.
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The term puppy love is used for those romantic feelings of love that are felt between young people and are not considered to be real love by more experienced adults (despite Paul Anka’s protestations in his 1960 hit “Puppy Love”). It dates to the early 19th century, but puppy-lover used in similar contexts has been traced to the 17th century.
Discover the origin of the phrase "head over heels" and its illogical nature. It now means "deeply" or "very much," like being in love.
The word heart began pulsating in Old English as the name for the organ in the chest that pumps blood through veins and arteries. In the 16th century, the noun throb began beating. (The verb was already palpitating in the sense of "to pulsate or pound with abnormal force.") Early uses of the noun include references to spasms of pain (especially in childbirth) or the catching of breath, or even a sigh.
Although bae may seem like a new word to some, according to our archives first appeared in print in1983, a year that also gave us ringtone, stressed-out, and onesie. Bae was added to our online dictionary in 2018, following a dramatic uptick in its recorded use.
Some relationships are actual, and some are vicarious. The latter are what led, about a quarter century ago, to the noun relationship being shortened to ship and used as a verb meaning “to wishfully regard (specific people or fictional characters) as being or having the potential to become romantically involved with one another.”
We define canoodle as “to engage in amorous embracing, caressing, and kissing.” Since it first appeared in the language around the mid-19th century, canoodle has most often been used humorously and playfully for public displays of affection by lovestruck couples (it’s also a favorite of gossip columnists).
Both the noun and verb forms of [shack] arose as American slang in the late 1800s. The noun is suspected to be a back-formation of shackly, an adjective meaning “rickety” or “ramshackle.” The original sense of the verb was simply “to live in a shack.” The phrase “shack up,”
By the beginning of the 20th century, people began bragging about their “main squeeze”—that is, their primary (potentially beanie-loving) partner in romance.