The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.2556  Tuesday, 6 November 2001

From:           Judy Kennedy <
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Date:           Mon, 05 Nov 2001 17:17:24 -0400
Subject:        MND, OED, and making love

OED Love sb(or n)1; 7 g. has in the 1933 ed.:

_To make love_: to pay amorous attention; with _to_ = to
 court, woo.

in the SUPPLEMENT Vol. 2, H-N of 1976:

_to make love_: now more usually, to copulate.  (First quotation is from
1950.)

the OED CDROM has:

_to make love_: to pay amorous attention; now more usually, to
copulate.  (The quotations given combine the 1933 and 1976 edd.)

It seems to me unfortunate that the CDROM omits the definition 'to
court, woo.'

I haven't checked the newer print edition of the OED.

I believe the first editor of MND to feel a need to comment on this line
is John Andrews in The Guild Shakespeare ed. of MND and TGV, in 1989: