lover

noun

1. One who loves and cares for another person in a romantic way; a sweetheart, love, soulmate, boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse.

   “[…]loue is blinde, and louers cannot ſee / The pretty follies that themſelues commit,[…]”

   “Well there's a wide wide world of noble causes / And lovely landscapes to discover / But all I really want to do right now / Is find another lover”

   “This is for the lover in you (take this ring) / This ring (It means I'll always be true) / This is (how we'll start love anew) This time (were gonna last forever)”

   “When HBO airs “Behind the Candelabra” on May 26, the world will get to see Matt Damon play Liberace’s drug-addled, surgically enhanced lover – a role about as far from Jason Bourne as it gets.”

   “Now, there's one in California who's been cursing my name / 'Cause I found me a better lover in the UK, hey, hey / Until I made my getaway”

2. A sexual partner, especially one with whom someone is having an affair.

   “Be my bad boy, be my man / Be my weekend lover, but don't be my friend / You can be my bad boy, but understand / That I don't need you in my life again”

   “2018 January 17, "Libra Woman: Personality Traits: Love & More", Astrology.com http://www.astrology.com/libra-woman.html A Libra woman seems to always be in love - either with her long term partner or with an ever-changing series of rotating lovers.”

   “I'm up and jaws are on the floor Lovers in the bathroom and a line outside the door”

3. A person who loves something.

   “a lover of fine wines”

   “a lover of his/her own country”

   “But though a conscientious disciplinarian he was no lover of authority for mere authority's sake.”

   “Sunday is 420 day, when lovers of marijuana get together to celebrate their fondness for weed.”

4. (West-Country)An informal term of address for any friend.

   “All right, my lover?”

5. (alt-of, obsolete)Obsolete form of louver.