Lovelace

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English lufeless (“loveless”), possibly a nickname for a philanderer. In the libertine sense, refers to Robert Lovelace, a character in Samuel Richardson's 1748 novel Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady.

Proper noun

Lovelace (plural Lovelaces)

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname.

Noun

Lovelace (plural Lovelaces)

  1. A well-mannered libertine.
    • 1876, George Eliot, chapter 32, in Daniel Deronda, London: Blackwood:
      You are a dangerous young fellow—a kind of Lovelace who will make the Clarissas run after you instead of you running after them.
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