different between ardour vs amorous

English

Noun

ardour (countable and uncountable, plural ardours)

1. Britain, Canada, and Australia spelling of ardor
   • 1931, H. P. Lovecraft, The Whisperer in Darkness, chapter 6:

     The purpose of my visit, and the frightful abnormalities it postulated struck at me all at once with a chill sensation that nearly over-balanced my ardour for strange delvings.

Translations

Old French

Noun

ardour f (oblique plural ardours, nominative singular ardour, nominative plural ardours)

1. Late Anglo-Norman spelling of ardur

   toun ardour et l’estudie de aprendre […] deit estre provee

English

Alternative forms

• amourous

Etymology

From Middle English amorous, amerous (14th century), from Old French amoros, amoreus, from Medieval Latin am?r?sus, from Latin amor (“love”), related to am?re (“to love”). Compare French amoureux (“in love”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æ.m??s/, /?æ.m?.??s/

Adjective

amorous (comparative more amorous, superlative most amorous)

1. Inclined or having a propensity to love, or to sexual enjoyment.

   • Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

   Synonyms: loving, fond, affectionate

2. Indicating love or sexual desire.
   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 218):

     There was no tune to it, only amorous gruntings like those of some old satyr who had furnished music for Circe's revels.

3. Of or relating to, or produced by, love.

4. (dated) Affected with love; in love; enamored.

Synonyms

• concupiscent
• lustful

Derived terms

• amorously

Related terms

• amour

Translations

References

• amorous in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• amorous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.