beloved

Everyday

1. Loved very much: a beloved pet, a beloved teacher. tree →
2. (noun, old or poetic) A person who is loved, especially a sweetheart. tree →
3. (church, Bible) Used for people dear to God or to each other, as in «dearly beloved» at the start of a wedding. tree →

In the lessons

In stories and news, «beloved» shows strong love or popularity: a beloved family dog, a beloved children's author. At weddings and funerals people hear «dearly beloved» or «beloved wife and mother» on gravestones.

Examples

• Our beloved cat lived to be eighteen. tree →
• The beloved old teacher retired this year. tree →
• Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today… tree →
• He wrote poems to his beloved. tree →
• The gravestone said "beloved father and grandfather". tree →
• Paddington is a beloved children's character. tree →
• Once our beloved Aphtanides paid us a visit. tree →

Note

Said bee-LUV-id before a noun (my beloved dog) and often bee-LUVD after a verb (he was beloved by all). The noun sense sounds old-fashioned or romantic.

In Jewish tradition

Dear to someone, especially favoured and loved.

Interpretation. Benjamin is called the beloved of the LORD, and tradition reads "He dwelleth between his shoulders" as pointing to the Temple being built in Benjamin's land. The law says a father must not favour the son of the beloved wife over the true firstborn.

Examples

• Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by Him; He covereth him all the day, and He dwelleth between his shoulders. (Torah DEU.33.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• If a man have two wives, the one beloved, and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the first-born son be hers that was hated; (Torah DEU.21.15, JPS 1917) tree →
• then it shall be, in the day that he causeth his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved the first-born before the son of the hated, who is the first-born; (Torah DEU.21.16, JPS 1917) tree →
• Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. (Writings SNG.5.1, JPS 1917) tree →
• 'My beloved is white and ruddy, pre-eminent above ten thousand. (Writings SNG.5.10, JPS 1917) tree →
• 'Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? (Writings SNG.6.1, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Said bee-LUV-id before a noun (my beloved dog) and often bee-LUVD after a verb (he was beloved by all). The noun sense sounds old-fashioned or romantic.