Cu·pid

(kyo͞o′pĭd)

1. Roman Mythology The god of love; the son of Venus.

2. cupid A representation of Cupid as a naked cherubic boy usually having wings and holding a bow and arrow, used as a symbol of love.

[Middle English Cupide, from Old French, from Latin cupīdō, desire, Cupid, from cupere, to desire.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Cupid

(ˈkjuːpɪd)

1. (Classical Myth & Legend) the Roman god of love, represented as a winged boy with a bow and arrow. Greek counterpart: Eros

2. (Art Terms) (not capital) any similar figure, esp as represented in Baroque art

[C14: from Latin Cupīdō, from cupīdō desire, from cupidus desirous; see cupidity]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

Cu•pid

(ˈkyu pɪd)

n.

1. the Roman god of carnal love, the son of Venus, commonly represented as a winged, naked infant boy with a bow and arrows.

2. (l.c.) a representation of Cupid, esp. as symbolic of love.

[< Latin Cupīdō Cupid, the personification of cupīdō desire, love =cup(ere) to long for, desire + -īdō n. suffix (compare libido)]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	Cupid - (Roman mythology) god of love; counterpart of Greek Eros Amor Roman mythology - the mythology of the ancient Romans
	2.	cupid - a symbol for love in the form of a cherubic naked boy with wings and a bow and arrow allegory, emblem - a visible symbol representing an abstract idea

Cupid

noun god of love, love, Eros Cupid's arrow may strike you at any time.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

Amor

Cupidon

Cupid

[ˈkjuːpɪd] N → Cupido m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

Cupid

[ˈkjuːpɪd] n

(Roman god) → Cupidon m
to play Cupid (= matchmake) → jouer les entremetteurs Cupid's arrow, Cupid's bow

cupid

[ˈkjuːpɪd] n (= figurine) → amour m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

cupid

n → Amorette f; Cupid → Amor m; Cupid’s dart (liter) → Amors Pfeil m (liter), → Liebespfeil m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

Cupid

[ˈkjuːpɪd] n (Myth) → Cupido
Cupid's bow (lip shape) → labbro arcuato

cupid

[ˈkjuːpɪd] n (cherub) → cupido, amoretto

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

And all good children to whom he related this story, took great heed of this naughty Cupid; but he made fools of them still, for he is astonishingly cunning.

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Wouldn't you like if your tails were--so-- Curved in the shape of a Cupid's bow?

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I perceive Cupid's arrows have been too sharp for you: the wounds, being more than skin-deep, are not yet healed, and bleed afresh at every mention of the loved one's name.'

This incident agitated and disturbed me most unaccountably - unless you would account for it by saying that Cupid's arrows not only had been too sharp for me, but they were barbed and deeply rooted, and I had not yet been able to wrench them from my heart.

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"You'll see to-night," said Maggie, flushed with the wine of the first grapes she had gathered in Cupid's vineyard.

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"When we moved the ornaments in that part, we moved a statue of a fat naked child-- profanely described in the catalogue of the house as "Cupid, god of Love." He had two wings last year, in the fleshy part of his shoulders.

I respectfully beg to thank you, sir, for overlooking the case of the stuffed buzzard, and the other case of the Cupid's wing--as also for permitting me to wash my hands of all responsibility in respect of the pins on the carpet, and the litter in Mr.

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Made up with curls, wreaths, wings, white bismuth, and carmine, this hopeful young person soared into so pleasing a Cupid as to constitute the chief delight of the maternal part of the spectators; but in private, where his characteristics were a precocious cutaway coat and an extremely gruff voice, he became of the Turf, turfy.

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One ought not to grow old holding a lock of Cupid's hair in one's hand.

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I'll play to him and sooth him in his melancholy Hours--Beware ye gentle Nymphs of Cupid's Thunderbolts, avoid the piercing shafts of Jupiter--Look at that grove of Firs--I see a Leg of Mutton--They told me Edward was not Dead; but they deceived me--they took him for a cucumber--" Thus I continued wildly exclaiming on my Edward's Death--.

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This rather irritating doctor, who was his private physician, felt the Duke's heart immediately after any lady was presented, and then always shook his bald head and murmured, "Cold, quite cold!" Naturally Queen Mab felt disgraced, and first she tried the effect of ordering the court into tears for nine minutes, and then she blamed the Cupids and decreed that they should wear fools' caps until they thawed the Duke's frozen heart.

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Let anti-masques not be long; they have been commonly of fools, satyrs, baboons, wild-men, antics, beasts, sprites, witches, Ethiops, pigmies, turquets, nymphs, rustics, Cupids, statuas moving, and the like.

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