Is the word 'love' a noun or a verb?

Every cloud has a silver lining, but that doesn't make it profitable to mine clouds for precious metals.

 

I think it's a vowel.

 

Good addition. It is controversial, because some schools of grammar describe such usage as "noun/adjective," declining to specify a single part of speech or leaving it open to debate when used thus. However, the prevailing view is that function in usage determines the part of speech, and "love" can and does function clearly as an adjective in such usage, without qualification, in addition to its more common function as a noun and as a verb in other contexts.

 

I thought it was an illusion.

"Love is eternal, for as long as it lasts." (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, quoting a Brazilian songwriter)

 

I thought it was adjective.

 

It can be both a noun or a verb depending on how it's used in a sentence.

 

It always amazes me how language has evolved since 1882. The following words and phrases from Iolanthe completely confuse most people today.

counterpane.....ticking.....slumbering.....steamer.....bathing machine.....penny ice and cold meat.....the tars.....spadesman.....Rothschild and Baring.

I have yet to find a young person who knew that a 'tar' was an ordinary seaman in the days of wooden ships.


When you're lying awake with a dismal headache, and repose is taboo'd by anxiety,
I conceive you may use any language you choose to indulge in, without impropriety;
For your brain is on fire and the bedclothes conspire of your usual slumber to plunder you:
First your counterpane goes, and uncovers your toes, and your sheet slips demurely from under you;
Then the blanketing tickles, you feel like mixed pickles so terribly sharp is the pricking,
And you're hot, and you're cross, and you tumble and toss till there's nothing 'twixt you and the ticking.
Then the bedclothes all creep to the ground in a heap, and you pick 'em all up in a tangle;
Next your pillow resigns and politely declines to remain at its usual angle!
Well, you get some repose in the form of a doze, with hot eyeballs and head ever aching.
But your slumbering teems with such horrible dreams that you’d very much better be waking;

For you dream you are crossing the Channel, and tossing about in a steamer from Harwich,
Which is something between a large bathing machine and a very small second-class carriage;
And you're giving a treat (penny ice and cold meat) to a party of friends and relations,
They're a ravenous horde, and they all came on board at Sloane Square and South Kensington Stations.
And bound on that journey you find your attorney (who started that morning from Devon);
He's a bit undersized, and you don't feel surprised when he tells you he's only eleven.
Well, you're driving like mad with this singular lad (by the by, the ship's now a four-wheeler),
And you're playing round games, and he calls you bad names when you tell him that "ties pay the dealer";
But this you can't stand, so you throw up your hand, and you find you're as cold as an icicle,
In your shirt and your socks (the black silk with gold clocks), crossing Salisbury Plain on a bicycle:
And he and the crew are on bicycles too, which they've somehow or other invested in,
And he's telling the tars all the particulars of a company he's interested in,
It's a scheme of devices, to get at low prices all goods from cough mixtures to cables
(Which tickled the sailors), by treating retailers as though they were all vegetables:
You get a good spadesman to plant a small tradesman (first take off his boots with a boot-tree),
And his legs will take root, and his fingers will shoot, and they'll blossom and bud like a fruit-tree,
From the greengrocer tree you get grapes and green pea, cauliflower, pineapple, and cranberries,
While the pastrycook plant cherry brandy will grant, apple puffs, and three corners, and Banburys,
The shares are a penny, and ever so many are taken by Rothschild and Baring,
And just as a few are allotted to you, you awake with a shudder despairing...

You're a regular wreck, with a crick in your neck, and no wonder you snore, for your head's on the floor,
and you've needles and pins from your soles to your shins, and your flesh is a-creep, for your left leg's asleep,
and you've cramp in your toes, and a fly on your nose, and some fluff in your lung, and a feverish tongue,
and a thirst that's intense, and a general sense that you haven't been sleeping in clover;

But the darkness has passed, and it's daylight at last, and the night has been long
ditto my song
and thank goodness they're both of them over!

 

I believe in your example, love is a compound noun not an adjective...

 

A compound noun is a combination of two or more words (noun plus noun, or noun plus adjective) that make a single noun, or sometimes multiple words hyphenated to make a single noun, but never two separate words. "Toothpaste" is a compound noun, because "tooth" and "paste" are combined into a single word. "Love interest" is not a compound noun. "Love" is an adjective in this case modifying the noun "interest"; however, "love-in" referring to an event is a compound noun because of the hypen and lack of space between the two words. Thus the word "love" can appear as part of a compound noun, but it's rare. Most usages are like "love nest", in which the word "love" is an adjective. It modifies the noun "nest" and answers the question "what kind of nest?"

 

From an English teacher
Love is a noun and a verb. It's certainly not an adjective, though some other answers suggest it is.

I love her. (Used as a verb here)

I am in love with her. (Used as a noun here)

Remember, love affair, love birds, love letters, love triangles etc are compound nouns. In these cases, love does not act like an adjective. Here love itself being a noun modifies another noun. Hence, they are called compound nouns.

From what I just saw online, the jury is out on this one ..some say it can be a noun, verb and adjective...some disagree.
As much as I would love to discuss this further, I'll just say, you may be right....or you may be mistaken...

 

The English language is full of abnormalities and every rule seems to have an exception. To make matters worse, other countries using our language make their own rules. The results of America having their own spelling is endless fun, particularly since the birth of the internet.
Few people realize the complexities of even the credits on a film and the different spellings preventing a American language version of a film from being released in the UK.
The biggest mistake has always been "Colour by Technicolor" (UK), vs "Color by Technicolor" (US).
In the UK, we cannot use Technicolour, since the trademark is registered in the US
This simple mistake alone has cost tens of thousands of pounds reprinting blockbuster films for the cinema, since a single print in 35mm costs £1.200 per copy.

As an engineer, from your explanations, am I correct in thinking that "Hot Water" is a noun preceded by an adjective. While "Hotwater" (often seen as a single word when used metaphorically), is a compound noun.?

 

You've made some good points. .Honestly, I'm not sure about a few things related to a precise understanding of grammar.

 

It’s a verb, you just do it

 

I love love

 

It's both verb and noun, and maybe even more. As far as I'm concerned, though, it's not just one thing while not being another.

 

Great philosophical question which I have discussed in metaphysical groups. I feel that love is both a verb and a noun. It is a verb if you have the ability to hate thru judgment. It is definitely a noun only when you become LOVE. When you become love it is impossible to hate anyone for any reason. You love all equally and look at the world entirely different. But when you are in that position your family will look at you like the world looks at Jim Carey. My son asked me if I loved his children. I said I love them as much as I love everybody else in the world. That didn't sit well with him. But that's ok because I understand myself.

 

Lmao!!