Romance

Multiple Entries:
  Romance    romance  

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
Romance /rə(ʊ)ˈmans, ˈrəʊmans/

▶noun the group of Indo-European languages descended from Latin, principally French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan, Occitan, and Romanian. ▶adjective relating to or denoting this group of languages.

– origin ME (orig. denoting the vernacular lang. of France as opposed to Latin): from OFr. romanz, based on L. Romanicus ‘Roman’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
romance /rə(ʊ)ˈmans, ˈrəʊmans/

▶noun

• 1 a pleasurable feeling of excitement and wonder associated with love.

  ■ a love affair, especially a relatively brief and light-hearted one.

  ■ a book or film dealing with love in a sentimental or idealized way.

• 2 a quality or feeling of mystery, excitement, and remoteness from everyday life.

• 3 a medieval tale dealing with a hero of chivalry, of the kind common in the Romance languages.

• 4 Music a short informal piece.

▶verb

• 1 dated be involved in an amorous relationship with (someone).

• 2 informal seek the attention or custom of, especially by use of flattery.

• 3 romanticize.

– derivatives
romancer noun.

– origin ME (orig. denoting a composition in the vernacular as opposed to works in Latin): from Romance.